Party 'Til The Cows Come Home!!

Well, we have just completed a 4 day marathon 9th birthday celebration! We started Wednesday morning on Blake's "real" birthday with a scavenger hunt. I made out 9 clues and they led him around all day until bedtime when he found the final "clue". It was an iTunes gift card, which was another "big clue" for what he might get at his party on Saturday. Wednesday was also Crazy Hair Day, so I had to take a picture of the boys "crazy hair" at breakfast. Notice: Blake eating blueberry muffins that I acually got up and made that morning for his birthday!!
I went and picked him up from school at lunch and took him to LaFiesta for lunch. Mom and Dad met us there and we had a really fun lunch celebration. They decided to go ahead and give him his present from them so that he could get it set up for Saturday. It was a, drum roll please......AQUARIUM!! He has been wanting one for SO, SO long and we have just really blown him off. Well, Nonnie and Poppy came through and now he is in fish heaven.

So, Thursday night Blake and Poppy and I set up the aquarium. I can't believe I don't have even one picture of it yet. It took a while, but it really is cool. complete with a bubble curtain and everything!

Friday night he had his "friend" party. We invited a few boys over for pizza, cake, and a movie. Wow, did I underestimate the energy of 6 nine year olds and 1 5 year old inside my house for 3 hours!! Total chaos doesn't even sum it up! Let's just leave it that when 9:00 finally rolled around I was very relieved! They all had a great time, and truly were fairly well behaved all things considered... I decided since we were having 2 parties, and lots of festivities that I wasn't buying 2 cakes this year. So, Blake decided he wanted cupcakes for his friend party. I think the "cupcake cake" turned out pretty cute!!

Saturday afternoon we had his "family" party. All the grandparents came (except PaPa, who was sick), plus Granny, Trisha, Jody, and Malory and Kyle and Amy. Here is a picture of Blake with cake #2!

I was really happy with how everything went. I have been really trying not to over-indulge my kids lately. I just feel like enough is enough and I don't want them to take the things they have for granted. So, on that note, Blake got some GREAT presents, but not too, too much stuff. He got his aquarium and a gift card for fish from Nonnie and Poppy. He got the Nintendo DS Lego Batman game from NaNa and PaPa (he's been telling everyone for weeks he was getting this - I"m glad they pulled through!!). Also, a lot of really nice winter clothes (again, NaNa always pulls through with clothes that they NEED). He got a really cool American History Trivia game from Kyle and Amy ( I think they are hoping this game will help tutor me in my history disability!!). A neat drawing animals kit from Trisha, Jody, and Malory. And, an iPod Nano from Travis and I. Sounds like a lot of stuff, but at least they were all things that he had specifically asked for and had been dreaming about. Not a lot of stuff, just to get stuff.

During the party Evan disappeared for a few minutes. He came back with a card he made for Blake with a $1 bill taped inside. Sometimes he totally amazes me. He wanted to give Blake a gift and it was SO sweet! It's those little moments when you know they really care about each other!

I had to include this picture just to show the floor around Blake as he opened his presents. He would just toss the paper over his shoulder as he opened. It will be funny to see the difference at Evan's party next month. They usually do things very differently!

Here's Blake with his iPod. We acually bought this refurbished from the Apple website. It came packaged just like a new one and comes with a 1 year warranty. It was WAY cheaper than a new one from the store and he will never know the difference!!

So, after the party we all loaded up to go to Fort Smith for dinner. We all went to Red Lobster. It's quite a trick to get a table for 11 on a Saturday night. But, we did it and had a really good time with our family. After that we went to Wal-Mart to buy the first 2 fish. We bough 2 guppies, named Henry and Jeff (I think it's Jeff, but Blake's asleep so I can't ask him). They have now survived for 24 hours, so I think the tank is safe. He also got a treasure chest with a diver attached that opens and closes in the tank! So cool (I had one just like it when I was a little girl). We're going to try to go to Wal-Mart tomorrow after school for a few more friends to add to the tank.

So, that's our marathon birthday celebration in a nut shell. It makes me tired just typing about it! Now, 27 days until Evan's birthday....