Happy Birthday Andrew Man!

 Handsome Andrew turned 8 years old this year! How that time passed so fast I'll never understand. Andrew means so much to me. I have loved him more than I could have ever imagined since the moment he turned me into a mom. He is incredibly sweet, hilarious, wild, sensitive, smart, fast, talented, kind, loving, helpful, and good to the core. He is easy to talk to, fun to be with and quick to understand. He is well liked, a good friend, usually a good example and happy. He works hard and tries to please, most the time. He is smart and can negotiate. He is usually social and fun but, can sometimes show that is unsure of himself in new situations. He notices others who need help or watching over and takes that seriously. Andrew is a joy. We are proud of him like crazy. We love him and feel lucky to have him as our first. 

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His birthday was Labor Day this year. The Friday night before his birthday we had our traditional backyard movie night. He chose to show The Lego Movie. It was Labor Day weekend so we expected a smaller group. We had a table with snow cones and popcorn and some people brought treats to share too. This movie night was for sure our most crowded ever! I had pre-made a full cooler of snow cones and went through those in minutes and even had to send Dave to the store for another bag of ice. We love our movie nights and it was really fun for the kids to have so many friends over. 

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On Andrew's birthday we woke up and went to our ward breakfast at the baseball field. The kids had so much fun eating for two minutes then playing for an hour with friends. The ward did a great job having fun games and sports available. After that we went home and decided to spend the rest of the morning at Boondocks. 

We'd never been to Boondocks but Andrew and Ashley both had been for other birthday parties. Boondocks gave the birthday boy a free wristband to do everything, and we bought a few activities a la carte for the girls and Dave, so it was really fun and actually not very expensive at all. Andrew loved it; he did Laser Tag with Dave, mini golf, a virtual ride and bumper boats. Ashley had fun with mini golf, bumper boats and the kids climbing land. Hailey and Kate just did the kids climbing land and were pretty happy about it. They each had fun with tons of arcade games. 

We stayed until just after lunch then went home to eat, let Katie nap, and watch Andrew open his presents. He loved his new Lego sets most of all, and also liked a Mike Trout poster, some baseball cards and a Ninja Turtle toy. We all had a little needed down time while Andrew enjoyed his new presents and Hailey and Ashley enjoyed Hailey's new things too. That night Andrew chose dinner at Training Table, desert at Menchies. 

 Andrew's birthday party was the following Friday afternoon. I ordered Andrew's invitations like I had with Hailey this year, I was just so busy. He chose a Chima theme which at this age means Chima invitations, blue balloons and blue frosting. He invited about 30 kids and we ended up with 28. It was a wild and crazy good time! 

We had a water bounce house slide and just a free for all playtime. We sent one friend home needing 3 staples in his scalp in the first hour so, that speaks to the level of chaos. Last year we had a bloody nose and this year we took it up a notch.

The warm water hose was a hit, as always and Dave really got into some serious water fights with these kids. 

 We took a break in the middle to eat some pizza, open presents and have cupcakes and sweets. Andrew scored some pretty awesome loot and is lucky to have so many great friends. 

These boys are too big to appreciate a cute cake, so I opted to skip that and keep it simple. 

 Our attempt at a group picture but, 10 boys are missing from this picture. One of them had already left to go get his staples, yikes!

Katie napped through the party and Ashley and Hailey played at the Farnsworth's house. I felt the party would be too wild and unsafe for the little ones and cousins and boy was I right. I so appreciated not having to worry about them. Once the party wrapped up we started the sibling and cousin after party, which was really fun too.  

 Where there is candy, Hailey will find it!

Happy 8th Birthday Andrew, we love you!!!

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Most of the kids at Andrew's party were fabulous. They came to play, they had fun, they had good attitudes, they were self sufficient etc. We had a great time! But, I have a quick thought about high-maintenance kids. A very small number (only 3 of 28 kids) did a few things that I thought were just high maintenance and obnoxious. After the party I talked with my kids about the things I saw that we just don't do as guests. I sure hope my kids don't do these things. 

• If a party starts at 2:30 pm (or any other non-meal time) please eat enough food to be full before arriving. If a child is hungry at a non-meal time they should know better than to walk into a party (or playdate) and say "I'm hungry" or to expect a full meal in the middle of the afternoon. Growing boys or not, that is rude. 
•  If you go to a water party don't ever sit out and complain that you don't feel like getting wet. (Also don't complain that someone squirted you, though that one doesn't drive me as crazy as the other). If you came in a swimsuit, plan on having fun with water. 
• At any party you go to, engage in the activity with a good attitude, just enjoy it, even if you don't think you will like it. You are going to have fun if you let yourself. Don't say things like "When will we do something else?" or "What else do you have?"
• Don't be so high maintenance! I swear I'm becoming that old lady that says "when I was a kid", but seriously, why can't kids take a quick drink out of the clean treated hose water anymore? I'm all for providing cups but, if you are thirsty just get a drink.