Yesterday we celebrated Luke's 8th Birthday. I know, it's 11 days shy of a month late, but being born 3 days after Christmas- it's tough come birthday time. With Christmas putting a damper on his day, then New Years and the fact that he doesn't see many of his friends until about a week into January, we decided this time would be best. This year, with Derrick and Melanie both gone, this time definitely works best for me.
Now what makes this birthday different from the rest is: this is the first birthday party he's shared with his friends. Each party up until now was a family party. We decided when he was younger that we'd start throwing him birthday parties when he entered kindergarten, that way he'd have his own friends to invite. Well, kinder came, it was our first year on Okinawa. I was active in his classroom and knew who all his friends were, but something came up. Derrick deployed to the Philippines for 4 months and left on December 11th. This being my first Christmas alone with 3 kids, (I'd done it once already with 2) and everything different about the global situations I was in no frame of mind to make Christmas amazing and then throw a birthday party the next week.
Last year Luke decided he didn't want to have a party but rather go to the arcade as a family. We had fun, but another year of him not getting that party. This year, I told myself there would be no excuses. Come hell or high water, Like is getting a birthday party. There were a few times where I just felt like the forces were working against me this year.
I had planned a bowling party but that fell through. Apparently 6 other people had the same idea. Later I found out that the parties reserved for Sunday had all been canceled- but I had already changed my party plans. We were going to have a small Pirate themed pizza party at the house. That snowballed into something huge. The more I prepared for this, the more I thought about how Luke had never had a birthday party but both Melanie and Brandon have had pretty awesome parties. This one ended up being an event to remember. The guest list doubled, I searched high and low for a treasure chest, first a pinata, then an actual chest. With days of searching and tons of miles put on my van I found what I was looking for. Oh and the cake situation, I couldn't decide which 'cake lady' to go with so I ordered two.
How do you choose between those? The first one matches his Pirate plates/napkins set perfectly and the second matches the treasure chest theme perfectly. The first is a chocolate cake and the treasure chest is a yellow cake with chocolate gold coins, hersheys kisses and ring pops for the jewels, skittles for the buttons and fruit by the foot for the straps. Luke fell in love with this cake the first time he was it. (So did I.) Aside from two amazing cakes, we had a little treasure map leading us from the street to our backyard pirate party.
And we've found the treasure. Gift bags for each of the kids, gummy skull and cross bones, jewels and beaded necklaces. It was a chore keeping the kids out of this until the end. Everyone loved it. AND I now have a really beautiful chest to use in my house. Now to figure out which room it should belong in? :)Aside from the cake and treasure chest madness we had tons of fun. Eight pizzas, a gallon of ice cream and a few bumped foreheads later (from the bounce house) I was able to upload the party pictures and see first had what I wasn't fully able to appreciate as the party was happening. Luke was having an awesome time!
Between all of the running I was doing during set up, through the party to make sure everything went smoothly and the clean up afterwards I feel like I had one crazy work out. The two hour party that started at noon was extended until about 5:30 with neighborhood kids, but the final guests (my closest friends) hung out with us until after 10pm. It was great having them here to help me for this. I don't know what I would have done without Andie and Brian. They (and a few other people) have really helped me keep my sanity with all the changes that we've been faced with over the past 3 months. Thank goodness for amazing friends!
Here are a few random pictures from Luke's first real birthday party. I can't guarantee that next year or the parties to follow will end up this huge, but this one... I had to make spectacular, he's waited this long.
Luke and his friend Akaylin & in the second picture it's Shayla and Luke playing with their treasure.
A handful of the kids wearing off all the goodies they'd just consumed & Luke and one of his best friends Tyler showing off the treasure. I have a cute video that I'm going to try and upload in a new blog, I've used all the space for this blog with photos. We had a great day, and after a good nights rest we're going to finish cleaning up then we're going to start playing with all the great things that Luke received yesterday!
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