Jack's 10th Birthday Party

Remember Jack's surprise sleepover on January 29th? That night, we gave Jack a gift of a birthday party with several friends, and yesterday was the big day! Jack had invited 10 friends to join him, and we took them to a place in town that has Bowling, Laser Tag, Glow Golf, Video Games, etc. We only had 2 hours for the party, and we squeezed as much fun into those hours as we could. By the end of our time, we had a bunch of happy, sweaty boys on our hands, and Jack felt very celebrated and loved.

~ our birthday boy ~

~ bowling ~

~ Jack getting a spare ~

~ bowling brothers ~

Cooper LOVED bowling! I think he liked it so much that he will get a post of his own with photos and exclamations of his love of it!

~ Jack & Allie ~

In between turns, Cooper spent some time in Corey's lap.

~ buddies ~

(and a couple of little brothers)

Allie's friend, Katie, stuck around too. They both enjoyed bowling!

moving on to the next thing...

~ cake time! ~

Happy Birthday, Dear Jackson!

~ eating cake ~

After the kids ate cake, they all played Laser Tag. I was not allowed in the gameroom with my camera, so there are no photos of that, but they all loved it! After Laser Tag, parents showed up to pick up their kids, and we said bye to Jack's guests. We stuck around for a bit longer to let our kids play Glow Golf, another round of Laser Tag, some video games, and another game of bowling with the Rector kids.

~ Jack & Kirby playing Glow Golf~

~ Cooper putt-putting ~

~ Jack & Mom ~

~ Dad & Jack ~

It was a great finale to our long celebration of Jack's 10th birthday!

Celebrating The Big 1-0

It's not every day that you turn into a double-digits-kid. Yesterday was that day for Jackson, so we celebrated his 10th birthday a little bit here-and-there all day long. It was a school day, so we started the morning out early. As soon as he realized that it was his birthday, he was up and attem, dressed in his uniform, and ready to open gifts.

He had a few gifts, so he decided to open 3 of them in the morning and 3 at night. This was the first thing he opened, and he was SO excited...

~ a hamster cage! ~

Jack had been wanting a hamster for a long time, and he was thrilled to find out that he was getting one for his birthday. Our plan was to give him the cage in the morning and take him to pick his hamster out after school that afternoon.

~ cinnamon rolls on the Special Plate ~

I had never taken Jack a lunch at school, and I thought that it would be a special treat for his birthday. He especially loved his chocolate milkshake. We also had brownies to share with his classmates, and they all sang him Happy Birthday.

Corey arranged his work day so that he could join us when the kids got out of school. We all went with Jack to pick the perfect hamster.

He settled on a sweet little Winter White Hamster and named him Einstein.

Isn't he a cutie?

We thought that Milly would be very interested in him, but she sniffed him a bit and went on about her business. When he rolls around in his ball, he sometimes bumps into her while she is laying on the carpet, but she is not phased in the least.

~ the last of the gifts ~

No special occasion is complete for Jack without some Lego action.

For dinner, we took Jack to a hibachi restaurant, and he loved it. (although Cooper hid under the table because he does not care for the fire on the table) After dinner, we all went to Chuck E Cheese's to play video games.

He is a fan of any games that give him tickets, so he can use them to "buy" things at the end of the night.

~ Coop playing in the tunnels/ slide ~

"I partied with Chuck E" balloons :)

~ Corey with the Birthday Boy ~

~ me and my 10-year-old

It was a great day.

Boy! I love that boy!!!

From The Vault: Jack's 2nd Birthday Party on 02-02-02

My little boy is turning into a bigger boy in about 24 hours... Jack's birthday is on Thursday, and he will be 10 years old. Double digits! So in honor of that, I have pulled a couple of photos out of the vault to share.

As Jack's second birthday was approaching and I began to plan a party, I realized that the Saturday nearest his birthday was February 2, 2002. I simply could not resist having a birthday party on 02-02-02... and a 2nd birthday party, at that! At the time, he loved trains! We have a McDonald's in town that has a real caboose outside that you can rent for parties, and that was the perfect place to celebrate Jackson turning 2. I remember that day vividly... he seemed so big... but look at these pictures! He was such a little tyke. An adorable little tyke!

What's that? I think I feel a tear welling up in my eye. I truly can not believe that this was 8 years ago today...

~ our family in 2002 ~

~ me and my birthday boy 8 years ago ~

SURPRISE!!! Jack's 10th Birthday Celebration Has Begun

This year is a big one for birthdays in our family. Within a 12 month span of time Corey turned 40, Allie turned 13, Cooper will turn 5, and Jack will turn TEN... this week!!!!

Last summer Jack had told me that he has always wanted a surprise party, and I tucked that into my mommy-memory. So, that is what I have been planning. Over the last few weeks Jack has asked me over and over and over and over what we are going to do for his birthday, and I have tried to hold him off... That was not easy to do, by the way. He brainstormed several different ways that he would like to celebrate and all the friends that he would like to invite to his party. All along, I had already invited 2 of his best buddies to come over for a surprise sleepover. I knew that he would love that, but in all of his brainstorming I could also tell that my little social guy had his heart set on celebrating with several friends... so I had to come up with a brainstorm of my own...

On Friday night, Corey and Jack went out to pick up some pizza for dinner. As soon as they walked out the door Allie, Cooper, and I flew into action. We only had a few minutes to get ready for the surprise sleepover that was about to happen. Corey had bought balloons and cupcakes earlier in the day and we decorated with that and a banner, and I set out the gobs of snacks that I had bought earlier in the week. Soon, Jack's friends Brady & Jack arrived, and we waited for the birthday boy to come back.

~ Corey & Jack coming through the door ~

At this point, all he had seen was the decorated kitchen...

~ SURPRISE!!! ~

...then he saw his buddies.

He was SO happy that he finally got his surprise party!

~ The Birthday Boy ~

~ Jack W, Jack P, & Brady ~

These 3 have been friends since they were all babies.

~ the "silly picture" ~

Cooper followed the 3 big guys around all evening and wanted to do everything they did. As soon as I had taken a photo of them, he said, "Now take one with me."

~ Allie & Cooper celebrating their brother ~

Brady & Jack gave him Legos and a yo-yo. He loved them!

We gave him something that I think that he really wanted. A party that he could invite 10 friends to.

~ cake time! ~

~ building his new Legos... his favorite activity ~

The boys spent the evening, the night, and the early morning building a fort that covered the living room floor and playing video games. Lots of video games.

At 3:00am they were still going full-force... and were still having a lot of loud fun. Corey asked them to watch a show and go to sleep. At 5:15 Jack came in and told me that they were going to go to sleep and asked me to wake them up at 7:ooam so they could play a lot more before his friends had to go home. Needless to say, I didn't wake them up but still they were up by 7:20. Lots more playing and fun and noise and eating took place until we wrapped things up around 11:00. I think that Jack loved his surprise...