Party like a Pirate (OR Hayden turns 7!)

I'm super excited to announce that we've welcomed our first son, Hayden, into this world. He's such a cute little newborn..........hey, wait a minute...........what? He's not a newborn?..............He's 7 years old? How could this happen?!

You know you all feel that way.


Holy. Cow. My sweet baby boy with the perfect newborn face and baby mullet is seven. How time flies, right? How was my life complete before he was born? I know some of you wonder how I deal with my little ball of fire, and I'll be the first to admit he's full of energy and craziness, but he is my world. But yes, I do savor the quietness that bedtime brings :)


For Hayden's birthday we had doughnuts for breakfast. And then I sent him to school on that little sugar high. I even brought cupcakes for his class, a first for him (and me) since in Utah school was out by the end of May so he'd never celebrated his birthday during school.


On his birthday we let him open his present from us and from Nana and Papa. Legos! Surprise! His latest obsession, which I love because they keep him entertained for hours, but I don't love finding tiny little Lego pieces scattered throughout the house. Sadly, some of his Lego sets don't work properly when they are missing that tiny, itty piece that I probably vacuumed up :)


I mean, come on, look at that face! LEGOS!

I figured since he's seven now, he's definately old enough to have his own birthday party. I think the last few years lacked individual birthday parties because I lacked the energy to do so. Not that my energy level has changed, but he's also noticed that most of his school buddies were having parties and good heavens, where was his party? He really wanted a Bionicles or Ben 10 party, but I urged him into something more generic so I didn't have to go buy specialized (aka expensive) party themed plates, etc.

So, Pirate Party it is! I found this pirate hat cake from a Family Fun magazine and added some extra cupcakes (in case the hat wouldn't feed everyone) and turned them into a little treasure map.

Treasure Hunt

The first game was a treasure hunt. I think originally I'd planned on making a map, but I never actually got around to making it, so last minute I wrote down clues and turned it into a scavenger hunt of sorts.

First stop, the door bell! Then they raced to their next location...

The basketball hoops! And then onto the third stop, which was the playhouse.

The fourth clue led them to the outside grill where they found a bucket filled with their treat bags. Each treat bag held some great (dollar store) stuff like expensive jewelry, golden chocolate coins, and trinkets.

Pass the Parrot

Or in this case, the multi-colored bear because although I swear we have a stuffed parrot around here somewhere, naturally it wasn't to be found when we actually needed it. It's like Hot Potato, I cranked up music while they threw the bear around to each other, and when the music stopped, whoever was holding the colorful bear was out. Last one in wins.....a jumprope!

I had to post this. Cole lost, but I wanted him to win so bad, I just couldn't stand this face!

I'm pretty sure Aubrey and Madelynn had no idea what the game was about. They were beyond excited when they got the bear and it took some coaxing to get them to toss it to someone else. Needless to say, they were out early and totally fine with it.

In case you were dying to know, Rix won. Luckily the jumprope was purple!

Walk the Plank

This was the best and worst game. It was so fun to watch them get wet, but some didn't love getting wet.

Basically, we drew a "plank" on the cement. If the blindfolded scallywag walked off the plank before they reached the end, the bystanders would shoot them with water guns. Some really loved it (and no one made it to the end without getting wet!) but others didn't like it. Maybe it was the blindfold? Or getting wet from all sides? It was funny no matter what (sorry Jack!).

Hayden's little friend Jill won a Pez dispenser.

Here goes Hayden! Do you see how diligently I'm trying to straigten him out? He insisted on walking at an angle, which meant he got blasted with water right away. I love how everyone is in position and ready to attack.

Cole started out really good, I thought he had figured out the strategy of slowing walking and redirecting when the water started, but he just bolted for it once he started getting shot.

Another epic failure (in the best possible way). Olivia did just like everyone else. Everyone sort of started out straight and then went curvy. I don't get it.

Jack was afraid to go, so Adam showed him just how fun it could be. See Jeremiah? Totally ready. And as you can see in picture #2, Adam got soaked. The kids LOVED getting him all wet!

I saved my favorite picture for last. Even after Adam's demonstration, Jack still didn't enjoy the game. Poor kid. But his tears didn't stop the kids, do you see Roman's determination?!

Singing to Hayden. In the end, no one was wearing the pirate hats except Adam. What a kid!

Cake, ice cream, and soda. I'm such a good mom.

Seriously? Who invited this kid? He's hogging all the cake! Oh wait, that's just Adam. Silly me.

I'm sorry. We forgot to say that Baby Jacob was also at the party. Sort of. He was partying inside Celeste's belly, since he would be making his arrival in a few short days!

Celeste, I'll bet it was Hayden's Pirate cake that put you into (delayed) labor! We need to find another pregnant person to try that on, just to make sure it wasn't coincidence.

And the part that Hayden had been secretly waiting for. Presents! You don't know what Du Pirates is? Neither do I. But in English that reads Pirate Plank, it's a fun Lego game that even Jeremiah and I don't mind playing with the kids (unlike Memory that takes far too long).

Gasp! More Legos? Are you sure he needs more? Well, yes, yes he does. According to Hayden, he just doesn't have enough yet.

A soccer ball. Sweet, something Jeremiah and Hayden can do together since soccer is not one of my many (and great) talents. Hayden loves the sport. It's in his blood.

The next day was Sunday, so for the third day in a row, we celebrated Hayden's birthday. But this time we also included Roman. It's sorta a family tradition to celebrate family birthdays once a month on a Sunday evening. We had brownies and ice cream (I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one sick of cake!) and the boys got money from some family. It was $15 total, but to them it was probably like a million.

This is the face of poor (dramatic) Madelynn after our family's birthday song. We all sing in our own key, in our own awful voice, to our own beat. It's like nails on a chalkboard and it makes everyone, except Madelynn, laugh. I think Madelynn has nightmares with the birthday song as the background music.

Hayden is certainly proud to be the oldest grandchild on my side of the family, even if it's only by a month. He is already counting down to his next birthday because he's excited to be baptized. I love that he's eager for that.

Here are some fun Hayden facts that you may or may not know (and I might not know, either, since these answers change daily):

Likes:

Food: Cherries

Color: Light Blue

Cartoon: Pokemon

Superhero: Batman

Toy: Legos

Game: Pirate Plank and Skipbo

Subject at School: PE

Candy: Push Pops (suckers)

Parent: Just kidding. We all know the answer is me ;)

He also loves the Wii, playing outside, and reading books to Aubrey. He's currently in Tae Kwon Do and swimming at the YMCA and is eager to try tumbling next session.

If he had a superpower, it would be: that he would have a waterfall in front of him. Supposedly helps him disappear from enemies. Don't ask.

Dislikes:

Food: Broccoli (standard kid answer)

Subject at School: Math

Chore: Taking out the garbage out.

He's not a fan of getting in trouble or of watching Dora shows with Aubrey :)