Birthday

Yesterday was Christopher's birthday. He turned 6 :) :( It is pretty sad to see my baby growing up, although I know that it is bound to happen. He shares a b-day with my dad (by choice since I had a scheduled c/s with him), which they both think is rather cool :) My dad gets off work for his birthday so weeks ago, we decided to take C out of school and do something fun for his b-day. Thanks to Henny Penny we were pointed to the Furrow winery and Red Barn Pumpkin Patch in El Paso Il. We took the kids there and it was pretty nice. Unlike Curtis ORchard, you don't pay extra for everything you do. There is a $3 charge for each kid, but adults are free. Unfortunately, since it was a Friday morning, there was a lot of stuff going on. They had a "straw castle", a bounce house, a corn maze, and a small petting zoo with goats and sheep. They also had some vehicles, a boat, a tractor and a truck, sunk into the ground that the kids could play on. We were there about 45 minutes before the 55 degrees, ominous clouds and 40 mile an hour winds proved to be too much for us. Mom and dad stopped at the winery on the way out then we surprised the kids with Chuck E Cheese for lunch. They both loved it with Lizzie running around exclaiming "I NEED another token" every few minutes. Finally we handed over the cup and she went and sat on the "vet truck" ride and just fed it token after token after token. Christopher was thrilled to get to play all the video games with paw-paw. When we came in, they asked if we were celebrating anything today and we told them birthdays. So they gave them both balloons with their ages written on them and birthday crowns to wear. Dad passed his stuff on to Lizzie :) As we were wrapping things up, Chuck E came and sang them happy birthday and they were presented with an ice cream sandwich with a candle in it. C apparently does not like ice sandwiches so he let paw-paw have it all. We rounded up all of our tickets to turn in and found out we were 15 tickets short of getting the thing he wanted. I took a dollar and went and played skee ball and won him 23 tickets. He was able to get a Spiderman pencil set that included a bag, a pencil, a notebook, an eraser, and a pencil sharpener. With the 10 extra tickets, Lizzie got a Tootsie Roll. Then it was home for presents. My mom got C a Nintendo DS, we got him the Shrek the 3rd game to go with it. From Lizzie was the "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" and a couple of other small things.

Today, we had his party. He invited 3 friends from school and their families. I'm so excited to report that they all showed up! This is only his 3rd year having kids at his party and in the past, it hasn't gone so well. Anyway, J and J, B and A, and L and L and their moms all made it, plus grandma Jan, Grandma Elsie, Grandma Jill, and Paw-paw Randy were all here. We had a Harry Potter party and we had beautiful weather so we were able to do it all in the back yard. We set up a canopy and decorated the front with a banner that had the trio on it and said "A Magical Day", then we took gold and crimson (Griffendor colors) streamers and hung them around the sides of the canopy, as well as the flag pole, driveway reflector and the gate in the front. When the kids got here, we let them play for awhile and then we had the decorate their treat bags (you can't buy HP treat bags. I looked everywhere and couldn't find them or things to go in them) with my super fun stamp/markers and HP stickers. While mom stuffed the treats into the treat bags, I had the kids play Bingo. We played until everyone had won a prize and then we let them go play and swing in the trees somemore (we have a magnolia tree that everyone that comes over loves to climb in because it has nice low branches). While they did that, mom and I set out the cake and ice cream. Then I made all the kids gather for a picture and then we served everything. Most of the kids didn't eat the cake but they all managed to make a terrific mess. :) Then presents. C got a Power Ranger gear set from J, die cast trucks from B and a Wolverine toy from L. Plus, he got a TRU gift card from Uncle Dave, a movie gift card from Grandma Jill and money from the other grandmas. Between the GC and the cash, he had $55 to spend. After everyone left, I made him help me write the thank you notes (I wrote, he signed) and then we went shopping. TRU has Buy 2 get one free right now on video games. He was able to get Scooby Doo: Who's watching Who, Spongebob:The Creature From the Krusty Krab, and Power Rangers for the BGA (which the ds will play)for $37. Then, while we were there, mom decided to get him the accsesory pack, which includes small boxes for the games, a car plug, screen protectors, headphones, extra stylus and cover for the system. Then she bought him a bag to carry it all in. She told him that is part of his Xmas, but I know she will buy him something else because that is what she does when she says something is for Xmas ahead of time :)

And now it is bedtime, for having 8 children at my house wears me out. I didn't even do much with the kids, but the running and fetching and organizing was more than enough to knock me out.