In keeping with the dinosaur theme, I made his dinosaur party invitations. It's the 4th dinosaur invitation I've made and they keep getting more realistic every year. After all, a 7 year old likes his dinos scary! And since Spinosaurus is one of Owen's favorites, it only seemed right that a photo of one should be on the invitation.
Owen wanted his cake to be a surprise this year. In the past he's picked out the design, but this year it was up to me to find the perfect cake. So I found a photo of a perfect one online, but the only reasonably priced bakery I've found that can make a gluten and dairy free birthday cake doesn't have the most creative baker on staff. So I had them make the cake and frost it with a lake in the middle with the thought that decorating it myself would be a snap.
Well, things got rather hectic making the party food and drinks and the cake ended up taking way longer to decorate than I had anticipated. Having my very first attempt at cake decorating be for my picky 7 year old's birthday party probably wasn't the best idea. But it ended up turning out pretty decent considering I had no clue what I was doing.
The party was planned for the afternoon, so we skipped the meal and just did snacks. In keeping with the dinosaur theme, Owen and I (with the help of Pinterest) came up with some fun names for the snacks. Some of the favorites were "Stegasaurus Spikes" for watermelon slices...
"T. Rex Teeth" for the very strange witch fingers grapes we found...
"Diplodocus Chips and Dips" which of course had to include Owen's favorite snack that he rarely gets to eat - Lay's Potato Chips...
And the item that made all the guests quite curious - "Dino Dung" made out of peanut butter, oats and chocolate chips....
Owen had mentioned wanting a surprise party, but that wasn't in the cards. So instead we decided to surprise him with his gift in the morning. Last year we hid in the kitchen and jumped up from behind the cabinet. But this year, it wasn't so easy to hide his big present. So instead we had to sneak outside without him knowing.
When he woke up that morning, we were quick to set the the surprise in motion. At 7:00 am, Shane, Cole and I headed outside, put Owen's present in front of the door, and rang the door bell. Owen loves running to the door to see who's there and this time, he got quite the surprise...a brand new orange bike!! In case he hasn't told you yet, orange is his favorite color. He was thrilled to get a bigger bike with a kick stand and reflectors AND in his favorite color! He hopped right on and took it for a spin.
The one big change for this year's party was that Owen decided to invite some of his friends. We've only had family parties in the past, and I think I was quite naive as to just how utterly crazy 6 soon-to-be first graders can be. It was sure a mad house!! I spent the entire time trying to corral the chaos. It was exhausting.
The party boy and his guests kept quite busy with a packed agenda. First on the list was a few dinosaur crafts.
Then we headed outside to search for hidden dino eggs and run in a dinosaur egg-and-spoon race.
After the race, it was back inside for snacks. The boys munched away on the snacks and then Owen decided to turn on a dinosaur documentary. They were all zoned in on that TV. It must have been one interesting documentary!
Unfortunately things didn't stay that relaxed when it came time to open presents. Each boy was excited for Owen to open his gift and eager to see what other fun things Owen received. Needless to say, the gift opening was crazy so I only had Owen open the gifts from his friends so we could move on to the next item on the agenda. Cake!
 |
We all sang Happy Birthday to the big 7 year old followed by heaping plates of cake and ice cream for the already very active boys.
After the large sugar load, it was time to burn off some energy...on to the pinata! When the boys heard the word "pinata", the excitement level went up a notch. We've done a pinata at each of Owen's birthday parties, but it's usually the pull-string kind. I just happened to have the same pinata on hand that we used at his last two parties. But this year I thought the boys would get a kick out of hitting the pinata, which all the boys loved, except for poor Owen. I hadn't realized he had grown rather attached to the pinata and seeing his friends smack it with a stick was not his idea of fun. Poor kid. But it was too late to turn back. So after many, many attempts by each of the kids, and with a little help by the grown ups, the candy finally fell out (that was one solid pinata!)
Owen's sadness quickly disappeared when we started on the next activity - creating volcanic eruptions! The birthday boy got to go first. He carefully poured a bag of magical power into the volcano and then...
He leaped in the air when it started to erupt!!
After Owen's turn, all his friends had a chance to make their own volcano erupt.
The last activity on the agenda was the slip-n-slide. We had lucked out with a beautiful summer day and the boys enjoyed slipping and sliding all the way through the giant shark.
Alas, the kid portion of the party had come to an end. Parents trickled in to pick up their little ones and the house quickly became much quieter. With things settled down, the grown ups got to enjoy watching Owen open the rest of his gifts. He was one very excited boy!!
 |
| "A dragon Hotwheels set!!!" |
 |
| "What else is in here?" |
 |
| "Curious George 2 AND Walking with Dinosaurs!!" |
 |
| "NO WAY!! A gift card!!!!" |
Owen - you are sure growing up! You may have noticed a couple things that have changed since last year. For one, you're missing your front tooth. So far that makes the 4th tooth you've lost. Unfortunately (for us), you get visited by not 1, but 2 magical beings - the Tooth Fairy and El Raton. And somehow, in your mind, El Raton has become the maker of wishes. So now when you lose a tooth, you make a wish for El Raton to bring you something. Last time it was a new Schleich T. Rex, you know the expensive realistic kind with a moving jaw. Let's just say, El Raton is topping the Tooth Fairy's measly 50 cent piece.
The other obvious change is your haircut. Unfortunately, this was not just a summer buzz cut. You decided a week before your birthday to cut your own hair. You took out two huge chunks on each side of your head which meant an emergency drive to Kid's Hair to see if they could salvage anything. Alas, it could not be saved and they buzzed the whole thing. Wouldn't you know it, we were supposed to have family photos taken a few weeks later.
One thing that has not changed is your love of dinosaurs! You love playing with them, reading about them, watching movies and documentaries about them, pretty much anything dinosaur related you love. You just can't get enough! Even your bedroom wall is covered with dinosaurs. And if anyone has a question about dinosaurs, you are the guy they should ask. You can spout off dinosaur facts all day long, right down to how many fingers and toes a specific dinosaur had. (You are really into the details!)
The other thing you can't seem to get enough of is water. Whether your soaking in a long bath or shower, swimming in the pool, playing in the rain, or washing and rewashing your toys, you are in pure heaven. You love playing outside with the hose, running through the sprinkler and making rivers out of our dirt covered back yard (you will not be a happy camper when we finally have grass!) You are constantly watering your plant, which has grown from a rather small plant into quite a big bush just over the summer. That plant definitely gets lots of TLC from you.
 |
| Running through the sprinklers |
 |
| Owen with his huge plant |
 |
| Owen's bird house |
You love books. Your favorite chapter books are Geronimo Stilton and Roscoe Riley Rules. We have read the first books in those series over and over and over again! You never seem to tire of hearing your favorite story repeated. You've heard them so much, that sometimes you even correct us when we say a word wrong. You sure have a great memory.
Owen, you continue to amaze us each and every day. We are so blessed to be your parents and can't wait to see what the next year has in store for you. Happy 7th birthday!
No comments:
Post a Comment