Birthday Boy!

For all of you out there who are ticked that it started snowing in October, you may officially blame me. It was I who planned an outdoor birthday party at the end of October. Stomper, who celebrated his SEVENTH (!!!!) birthday on the 28th, has lots of buddies, which is a joy to me. I'm so grateful for all his good friends. Good boys they may be, I knew I couldn't have them all in my house at one time. My house is good for one friend over at a time, two if we're lucky. So I thought to myself, it's been a nice warm October! I'm sure that if the day is dry it will be warm enough to have a party at the park. So I made some announcements and sent them out. It was that night that the news first reported the upcoming snow. Great.

Luckily we have a great church building with a big gym and a kitchen connected to it. We changed plans and had everyone join us there. My parents came and helped me decorate. The theme? Godzilla. We had a Godzilla party. Let me warn you, any of you who may be interested in such a party that there is not a single Godzilla item to be found in this valley. So we went with green streamers and balloons, a black table cloth and I had Stomper draw a bunch of Godzillas for the table. I did find one giant eyeball balloon that seemed to fit the theme, which is still floating eerily in my living room. I, as expected, found not a single Godzilla pinata. I was directed by my friend to a dive-y little joint on State street to the best, most giant pinatas the valley. They are magnificent. I printed out a couple of pictures of Godzilla off the Internet and stapled them on. (Yes, I'm turning out to be quite handy with a stapler.)




I was worried that because we weren't at the park I'd have to plan some games to keep kids busy. I have a hint for all of you party planners out there. You only need two things to keep a party going. 1) Balloons. I was going to have a relay race and balloon volleyball, but the kids weren't interested. They just wanted to romp. 2) Coloring Pages. We had a table set up with crayons, markers and a stack of Godzilla printouts. Thank you, dear Internet. What with the romping, coloring, pinataing, pizza and caking plus presents, the party was over before we knew it. I'd call it a success for sure.

And now I have a seven year old boy, who is turning out to be an okay kid! You know what I love about parenting, especially since I get to do it along side my best friend? I love those moments when your child does something funny or sweet or a little naughty and, unbeknownst to the child, you and your spouse meet eyes across the room and you share a little laugh or a little amazement. I love that. Happy Birthday to my big boy whom I'm getting to be quite fond of!