Happy Birthday, Andrew!

Our little Andrew turned 7! We love him so much and are so grateful for him and all that he teaches us. Here are some current things about Andrew:

*1st Grader in the Portuguese Program

*Favorite Food: Pizza, chicken nuggets, anything sweet

*Least Favorite Food: eggs, cheese, vegetables

*Favorite Game: Lego Star Wars

*Favorite Book: Percy Jackson and the "Lightning Thief"

*Andrew is one smart cookie. He is doing so great learning Portuguese and is a terrific reader. He is also progressing well in piano, and is so well behaved at school and church. At our recent Parent/Teacher conference, Andrew's teachers told me that they wish they had a whole class full of Andrews.

All that being said, we have had a rocky few months with this boy and his tantrums at home. He has always been strong-willed and has definitely made us work hard to learn better parenting techniques. His birthday came at the perfect time because it was nice to forget about the struggles for a while and just celebrate our special boy and plan something that he would love. We really put all of our energy into making it a fun birthday for him.

It was his year to have a friend party, so we came up with some ideas about possible party themes, and he got to decide which he liked. He decided on "Donuts and PJ's". Since his birthday was on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, it worked out really well. We held it that Monday morning when school was out and had a donut brunch. All the kids came in their jammies. It was basically a big slumber party, but in the morning. They loved it!

Jonathon and I stayed up late the night before planning all of the games and getting things ready. It ended up being so fun! Andrew invited some friends from school and a few from church. There were 11 kids total (including Andrew, Christian, and Hyrum). It was super loud and pretty chaotic for an hour and a half, but I'm pretty sure every boy had a great time!

All the Crazy Party Guests

Since Andrew was turning 7, we blew up 7 balloons and put an activity in each one. We let the boys pop the balloon to see what our next activity was going to be. We started with Angry Birds. We let one group build a Pig House out of blocks and the other group shot the stuffed animal birds out of our slingshot at the pigs. We have played this game many times, but it never fails to thrill everyone. The boys thought this was the greatest thing they had ever done. Haha! They were screaming, "This is amazing!" and jumping up and down. After all the Pigs were destroyed, we moved on to Plinko, followed by pillowcase races, and a donut treasure hunt.

After the games, it was time for Andrew's donut cake. This kid sure loves donuts, and I love how easy it is! We put candles on the "cake" and let him blow them out. We also had fruit and chocolate milk for the brunch.

Then we opened presents. Andrew was given so many nice, thoughtful gifts including: Pokemon cards and a stuffed animal, 2 sets of legos, 2 different Ninjago toys, and a card game. He seriously loved everything, and I was so impressed with how well his friends know him and his interests.

Lastly, all of the boys got to decorate mini donuts. I made 50 mini donuts the night before and then set out chocolate and vanilla frosting, mini chocolate chips, coconut flakes, and 2 kinds of sprinkles. The kids got to dip and decorate their donuts to take home for later. They really turned out good, and the boys had a great time. Overall, the party turned out perfect and Andrew had a wonderful day.