Jack's Epic Video Game Party with Friends

Many months ago, when I talked to Jack about a 'theme' for his upcoming birthday party, I suggested video games.  He smiled but kind of shrugged his shoulders as I'm sure that he had a mental picture of a bunch of friends all sitting around our living room playing games.  It sounds fun, but that would be something that he could do any weekend of the year ... if he wanted.

But you see -- I had something else much bigger in mind.  I had already researched and looked into renting an actual video game trailer that we could have parked in our driveway for the kids to play in.  There would be lots of remotes, lots of seating and LOTS of games to choose from.

I purposely waited until the time got closer before telling Jack what my real plans were; I wanted to be sure that we were able to book the party and I wanted to be sure that most everyone that he wanted to invite was able to attend.

Using the lime green and black color scheme, I set up the event in the garage.  I chose to do drawstring bags for party favors (the boys use these all the time to haul things including their sports gear) and assembled tubes with green gum balls in them to give out.

A close-up of the bags and the gumballs:

Some fun tablecloths and backdrop ... and balloons too!

We blew this balloon up with regular air from our air compressor and it has lasted so long!

As soon as the guests began arriving, they all made a bee-line for the zipline in the backyard.

This is a main event at our house -- not just for parties.

Within a half-hour, the video game truck arrived in our driveway and began to get set up.  The kids went crazy!

We served pizza and gatorade and as soon as their hands were clean (!!), we turned them loose for 2 full hours of video game time!

Posing for a quick picture to appease me:

Later, everyone stood outside of the truck and allowed me to take a picture as the sun was beginning to set:

And then a funny one!

By then, it was time for dessert (Jack chose brownies), ice cream and a little more popcorn:

Such a great group of boys:

The next day, we celebrated with family at our house and of course, I decorated the picture in the dining room to match the theme and made a cake.  I even surprised Jack with a special shirt for the day.

The lighting wasn't the best, but the video game controller turned out pretty great and then I filled in with some leftover brownies and a few cupcakes (with extra green gumballs).

Happy birthday to my nine-year-old boy!

Jack's 9th Birthday

 As is traditional, we seem to celebrate birthdays in this family ALL week long. Typically, we begin the morning of one's birthday with cinnamon rolls and a candle with all of us singing 'happy birthday' to the guest of honor.

Jack's hair -- it is so thick and grows so fast.  And he likes to wear it a little on long side, as evidenced here.  Those chocolate-brown eyes could melt anyone's heart though.

Jack settled on a 'video games' theme this year and it was absolutely perfect for him!  I incorporated neon green and black colors and then wrapped a table of gifts from us that he was able to open later that day, after he arrived home from school.

Jimmy was just as interested as Jack to see what was inside each and every package.

I feel like sunglasses are a necessity when your birthday is in May.  And neon green ones to match the theme?  Yes, please.

The big gift from his dad was a ninja obstacle course for the front year.  And it was perfect timing because the plan was to get it all set up before his friends came over to celebrate with him later that weekend.

That weekend, we set up his birthday party with friends in the garage.  Lots more neon green and black with popcorn boxes ready to fill, plates set out for pizza and one of a few party favors -- plastic tubes that I printed stickers for and filled with neon green gumballs.

Each of the guests also received a drawstring bag, which are really useful for carrying all of the things back and forth to school and sports practices at this age.

Set up and waiting for guests:

That #9 balloon was filled up with regular air (from our compressor) and is STILL going strong!

The zipline in the backyard was a big attraction as the kids waited for their pizza and the biggest attraction of all ...

Yup, I rented a video game truck for 2 hours so that the kids could go inside and play as many video games as they wanted.  There were ALL kids of choices and it was a HUGE hit!

It was awesome.  I checked in with the kids every once in a while and they played until their hearts were content.  Even Steve played some 'old school tetris,' and earned a high score.

The sun was setting and I begged for a quick picture of everyone in front of the truck for prosperity.

And in return, I promised them that they could do a FUNNY picture too.  They nailed it.

Jack agreed to get a haircut before his friend party (and he looked so handsome)!

A random picture of the excited boys all gathered around, eating dessert, drinking gatorade and celebrating their friend on his special day!

Mid-Week Randoms

We celebrated Earth Day this year with the girls making posters for the Grand Opening of the new Recycling Center in Laingsburg.  The schools were encouraging anyone that wanted to design a poster to make one and submit it for a chance to win a gift card to the Dairy Den in town.  

Jimmy worked on a special side project of his own while Sophia worked on her Earth Day poster:

Samantha designed one quickly and hers was used as decoration on the wall at the event:

But, Sophia's ended up winning 1st Place for the Elementary School and she received a $25.00 gift card for ice cream!

The winners were on display, so we went to the Grand Opening event ...

... and Sophia was formally presented with her award:

We have now been doing SO MUCH recycling there!

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When the kids were younger, they used to take baths in our master bathroom ALL THE TIME.  Now, everyone showers exclusively, but Jimmy still enjoys a nice bath -- especially if it involves a lot of bubbles!

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We were invited to a Cinco De Mayo party so I made cupcakes, of course!  They were a huge hit!

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Jack and Sophia had a Spring Music Concert at school so they dressed nicely for the event.  Oh, how we have missed the normalcy of things like this!

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Nicer weather means that we work on schoolwork outside as much as we can!

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Jack's Biography Project this year was on George Washington.  He worked on the report at school (I was amazed by his typing skills!) and then worked on his poster at home.  Once he was finished, I drove him to school one morning with the poster so that he could present it to the class.

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Crazy Hair Day at school!

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Spring Band Concert with our trumpet player!

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Sophia's last Daddy-Daughter Dance!  After missing the dance for the last 2 years because of COVID, the dance was finally scheduled and Sophia was so excited about it!

The blue dress was a beautiful color for her!

She's growing up so fast!

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Potter Park Zoo with James

With COVID numbers (finally) stabilizing, the school district has opened up the opportunity to have field trips again.  It is a tradition that the kindergarten class goes to the local zoo -- Potter Park Zoo -- as their 'end of the year field trip' and I was excited to be able to meet the bus there and walk around with Jimmy.  We packed a lunch to eat under the pavilion and then I surprised him by letting him leave early (instead of returning back to school) to ride back home with me.

Our first stop was to see the bald eagle.  This was one of Jimmy's favorite animals there and we managed to stop back by on our way out for one more visit:

There is an exhibit there with Farm Animals and even though we see a lot of those on a regular basis, it is still fun to stop and see them:

This huge turtle statue has been part of the zoo for as long as I can remember and I am pretty sure that I have pictures of each of the kids on it from our visits there over the years.

We stood in line for a bit to see the red pandas (there were even a couple of babies there) and while we were waiting, James asked to have his picture taken in this cut out:

The lion and tiger exhibit was fun to see (and hear!).

So majestic!

Jimmy jokingly referred to the lions as Simba and Nala -- from one of my all-time favorite Disney movies.

We went inside a building to see the monkeys and we really enjoyed watching them.  

Sophia's favorite animal is a penguin so we made sure to take a picture and send it to her:

The birds were beautiful!  Even though the weather was still a bit chilly (see the gloves?), we still had a great time!

A scenic waterfall ...

Another iconic statue that we always manage to get a picture taken at:

Our last stop: the wolves.  I chuckled because our school district is the Wolfpack so it was appropriate that we made a visit here before exiting through the Gift Shop and onto lunch ...