Tommy turned eight today. That means I've been writing this blog for eight years. The idea that I've been doing this for eight years is harder to believe than the idea that Tommy is an eight-year-old. I seem him grow and change every day, so it really doesn't surprise me that he's as big and old and grown up as he is. I can't really see all the ways he's changed because all of the changes have been incremental. I guess that's why I have this blog! If I look back, then the changes are obvious and amazing.
This week has been filled with lots of party plans. We put together 24 goodie bags for the birthday party guests. I always think you can tell a lot about a kid by what he chooses to put in his birthday party goodie bags (or I suppose it tells you a lot about the mom, if the kid doesn't have any input.) For this movie-themed party, we used red and white striped popcorn bags. I special ordered 24 of the Lego Series Six Collectable Minifigures - not yet available in stores! We found packets of pop rocks, because pop rocks are cool. We chose mechanical pencils and Mario Bros. stickers. Finally, Tommy and I made Lego-shaped white chocolate candies for everybody. I'm probably more proud of those goodie bags than I should be.
We invited 18 kids to join us for the birthday party. A few were well-loved younger siblings, but most were Tommy's friends from school and activities. We had a couple of last-minute sibling additions, so it's a good thing I made extra goodie bags. Between the extra guests and Charlie handing out goodie bags willy-nilly to random siblings who came to the door at pick up, we had exactly enough.
We started the party with a movie. Tommy put a lot of thought into his choice. He finally settled on The Cat Returns a Studio Ghibli film that he really likes and thought most of his friends hadn't seen yet. He was right. I think only 2 or 3 of the kids had ever seen it. I was a bit unsure of his less-than-mainstream choice, but left it up to him. Surprisingly, most of the younger siblings were happy to watch the entire movie, even the slower beginning part. Only three of the big kids (very active boys) and the lone three-year-old wandered off to play instead of watching the movie. That's not bad for a rather obscure Japanese family film.
Do you see those snack trays? Aren't they awesome? They have a space for popcorn, a soda can cup holder and a slot for a candy bar. I had seen them at the movie theater. You would not believe how much effort it took to find them. If you ever do a movie party they're called "Movie Theater Snack Trays" and are available at Online Home Theater Accesories.
After the movie, I let the kids run amuck. You would not believe how loud and enthusiastic 20+ kids, most of whom are almost as tall as me, can be. They're all good kids though, so there weren't too many mishaps or dramas. After a bit of playtime, they came in to watch Tommy open presents and eat cake and ice cream.
Everyone went home except two of Tommy's closest friends. Chris and Gage stayed for a sleep over. We ate pizza, played games, and were all in bed by 9 pm. Poor Charlie thought he might get to sleep with the big boys, but he was too tired and had to go to bed early in his own room.
It was really quite nice to have the boys with us this morning, on Tommy's actual birthday. We ate birthday breakfast biscuits and opened all of Tommy's family presents. Chris played the Pirates of the Caribbean Theme Song on the piano while the other boys reenacted scenes from the movie. They built legos, checked out all the presents, and bounced on the extra mattresses that we set out for them. It was a nice way to round out Tommy's birthday.
We were all pretty wiped out for the rest of the day. Tommy and Charli had a lot of news games and toys to play with. David and I were still a bit shell-shocked from the party. I went out once this afternoon to run an errand, and came home to this.
Somehow, this picture looks very grown up to me. I expect to see boys sitting around a table with sodas, snacks and fantasy card-based games, coveting +3 broadswords, and discussing the merits of chainmail vs. leather armor for many, many years to come. It's in their genes.
We ended the day with a giant order of sushi from Sushi King (Tommy's choice.) We ate it in front of the TV, and it was all gone in less than 10 minutes. Hurray for boys!
Munchkin!!! I hadn't even thought of playing that with the kids. What a great idea. :-)
Posted by: Andrea | February 01, 2012 at 10:08 AM