Happy 7th Birthday!!

What a day we had!  Our oldest son is now seven years old.  It amazes me to see how grown-up he has become.  How we love our oldest son!!

His birthday started out with Apple Jacks cereal and bacon.  How's that for a choice at anything for breakfast?  It was enjoyed by only The Big Guy Lowe, our birthday boy, and me because the other boys were still sleeping.  Once they woke up they enjoyed the treat as well.

We had a big day planned and we were all excited!!  The birthday fun actually started a bit early, with the birthday boy bringing fun birthday cookies to school on Friday.

I have loved this cookie recipe as well as the glace` icing.  The birthday boy was pretty excited to pass these out to his class!

For the actual birthday, our oldest had decided that he wanted it "Lego-style", so that's what we did.  Last night I stayed up pretty late decorating the birthday cake.  Our birthday boy had asked that it was just the Lego logo. 

I was pretty happy with how it turned out, and even better, our birthday boy was so happy!!  That made it all worth it for me!

Friends were scheduled to be over at our home at 10:30AM for the party.  The first (of 10 boys) arrived and we didn't stop for a moment for the next two hours!  I began by asking what we do with Legos.  The boys said "we have fun" and "we build".  I used both of those answers to explain that we were going to do just that, but with a different type of lego.  We had gingerbread houses for each of the boys to decorate with tons of candy to choose from.  The candy was the type of lego that we were going to be using. 

10 boys all decorating at one time was quite a site to behold!  I am so grateful for both Grammies that were here to help!!  Grammy HB helped with the frosting and piping,

while Grammie Lowe was encouraging and helping clean up throughout it all!  The Big Guy Lowe was very hands on the whole time too!  This was a multi-generational birthday extravaganza!

After each of the boys were finished decorating the houses, we played a game that our son had made up--such a clever 7 year old!  It was a version of the classic "pin the tail on the donkey" but we used a lego-guy head and played put the head on a picture of a lego-guy that our birthday boy had drawn earlier. 

It was a great hit!  We had all the boys chant "lego-guy" as each boy was blindfolded and spun around.  Then it needed to be silent as each boy made their attempt at placing the head in the right spot.  It was fun and kept the boys pretty interested.

After the game, we opened presents.

Each of the boys were asked to watch and help our oldest son make sure that he did two things after opening each present.  First, he needed to say "thank you" to the person that gave him the gift and second, he needed to say why that gift was cool.  It was pretty fun to hear the different things that were said about all the gifts.  Great toys and Lego fun everywhere!

After present, we had a quick lunch consisting of hotdogs, chips and Cool aid.  I'm so disappointed to say that I think some of the kids didn't know what Cool aid was!  What are people teaching in their homes these days?!  ;)  Lunch was a pretty quick affair that lead right into the birthday cake!

Let's see, singing "Happy Birthday" from left to right was Sam, Logan, Jayden, Ryan, G, Trevor, Ethan, Logan, Bryce and Eli.  Unfortunately the other Sam had to leave a bit early!!  Fun friends!
Two hours went by pretty quick, as I'm looking back.  There were a few times that I had to remind myself that of course things were somewhat crazy--we had 11 first-graders in our home!!!  Overall I think it was a great party; lots of laughing, loud noises, and no crying.  Yep, a good party!  It was fun to see the boys excited to take their gingerbread houses home with them.

After all the boys left, the rest of us just about collapsed!  Whew!  Happy times!  Grammie Lowe then shared her gift with the birthday boy!

Ever since I received my AWESOME camera for my birthday, this birthday boy has wanted one of his own.  Grammie was so clever and passed on a camera that had previously brought her many wonderful pictures.  Our birthday boy was ecstatic!

As is famiily tradition, we continue the birthday celebrations at Grammy and Grandpa HB's home on Sunday with the rest of the local families.

So we recycle cake--it was a big cake, even if it only said "ego" this time!  :)  Uncle Jonathan was in town and gave the birthday boy a gift from his family--a wonderful drawing book!  He's already been working from it.  Uncle Michael and Aunt Jaymee and family gave him some Bakugan balls--he loves them!  He has taken many pictures with his new camera from Grammie Lowe!!  And Grammy and Grandpa HB gave him art classes through KidzArt.  His classes started yesterday after school!!  In addition to all of this, our neighbor, Sue, gave him art supplies and a new art book that he is on his way to filling up!

What a wonderful birthday.  My favorite thought through it all was that seven years ago, the arrival of this son changed my life forever, making me a mother.  Happy birthday sweetheart!  We love you and are so grateful we get to be part of your family!