Happy 8th Birthday, Jack!

We have had so much fun celebrating Jack's birthday season!  Brent says that birthday celebrations in our family go on and on for so long that you can't say we celebrate a birth day, but more like a birth season.  And the problem with that is?


It all began Friday afternoon.  We told Jack that his birthday present from us was being delivered.  We thought it would be delivered that evening, but due to weather, it wasn't delivered until around 9:30.  A little past the birthday boy's bedtime, but what can you do?

Waiting for the birthday present to arrive.  Jack and Will were camped out, ready and waiting.  They had even pulled up some chairs to the dining room window.  No talking anyone into going to bed now.

It's an air hockey table!  Jack loves, loves, loves air hockey and was floored that he now has his very own air hockey table!

We had to get in a couple of games before bed.  Jack and Will played and then we had a family game. We also had to have a discussion about being gracious winners & losers.  To say that we are a competitive family would be an understatement.  The air hockey table is going to provide many teachable moments about good sportsmanship!

Saturday morning, June 18th, Jack's actual birthday began with opening presents from the grandparents.

Happy and Honey gave Jack a cool Lego Creator Lighthouse set.  Not only can you build a lighthouse that really lights up, but you can also build a boathouse and a seafood restaurant with a light up oven.  So cool!

Happy and Honey also gave Jack a "The Bird is the Word" Angry Birds t-shirt.  Oh yeah.  Watch out, Granddaddy!  The game gets serious now!

Gramma and Granddaddy gave Jack a fantastic interactive globe.  He has loved learning about the world.  We have learned about different countries' native music, native wildlife, flags, and languages.  And that is just the beginning....lots more information to discover.

  

We had Jack's birthday party Saturday afternoon, and he thought it was pretty neat to be having his birthday party on his actual birthday.  We had a pool party again this year because they are so much fun for the kids and so easy for the mama!

We swam...

and played...

and jumped...

and swam some more...

until the lifeguard called for adult swim.  Then it was time for pizza!  On the menu was the usual pepperoni and cheese, and in addition, we had Jack's favorite barbeque chicken pizza.

After pizza, everybody headed to the diving board for a "Show Us Your Best Dive or Jump" contest.  And that is when we heard the first clap of thunder.  Oh No!  So Brent took everyone to the playground to wait out the 20 minute break.  And about 10 minutes later...

the bottom fell out of the sky!  A major thunderstorm came through.  What a bummer for a pool party.  So we came up with Plan B.

 

We quickly herded everyone into the safety of the clubhouse for the ice cream cake.  While I got everything ready, Brent, aka Super Dad, organized a few quick games to keep our guests occupied.

Then it was time for ice cream cake!

Mint Chocolate Chip and Chocolate Cake.  Jack's favorite.  I was a little worried that not many children would like mint chocolate chip ice cream, but boy was I wrong.  They scarfed that stuff down!

Jack turns 8!  Happy Birthday, baby!

We passed out the goody bags and thanked all of our friends for joining us and that was the end of the party.

But the end of the birthday celebration?!?!  Of course not!  We still had to have our little family celebration.

Jack decide that he wanted to go see Mr. Popper's Penguins.  Ms. Ross read the book to his class this year, and he thought the book was funny so he was excited to see the movie.  

The movie was funny...alot of penguin poop humor, which to four year old Will, is pretty hiiii-larious or kilarious as he says (and I'll be so sad when he learns to pronounce hilarious correctly.  When Jack was a toddler, he called me Monny and it killed me the day he learned to say Mommy!).  But the movie wasn't all potty humor, it did have a sweet message about family and what's really important, too.

All of the cold, snow and ice put us in the mood for some frozen yogurt.  We love this stuff!

 

Can you guess which one is mine?!?!

It was a fun birth "season".  Our first born is growing up too quickly.  As he reminded us this weekend, Jack is halfway there to getting his driver's license (gulp).  

Happy Birthday, Jack!  You are amazing and we love you more than you know!