Andrew turned 9 years old on January 18th. I have never taken treats to the school for birthdays before because 2 of my 3 boys have summer birthdays. This year, though, I thought I would surprise Andrew and bring cupcakes for his class. I found 3 dozen awesome cupcakes on clearance at Smith's, so it ended up costing me less than $5 total! Hyrum and I took them in to his classroom, and he was completely surprised. It was fun to see him so excited (and a little embarrassed to be the center of attention)! While I was there, his teacher had the class sing to him in Portuguese. Then she did a little birthday interview with him. It was fun to see him understanding and speaking Portuguese. Andrew got spoiled for about a week straight. For his birthday dinner, he chose Pizza Pie Cafe. It is one of the kids' favorite places to go because the birthday boy gets a free cookie ice cream sundae. After dinner, we had a small family birthday party for him at home. On Sunday, we had another party for him at Grandma and Grandpa's with his favorite treats... donuts and root beer floats!
Then, the next Saturday we had a big party with all of Andrew's friends. We only do friend parties every couple of years, so we try to make them extra special. This year he wanted a Legend of Zelda party. The boys have loved playing the new Breath of the Wild game on the Switch, but I was completely out of my element because I know nothing about Zelda. With lots of help from Jonathon, I was finally able to put together a cohesive party, and it turned out so awesome! When the party guests arrived, we gave them a special quest. They had to finish 3 tasks in order to complete the triforce. In Zelda, the triforce is comprised of three attributes: courage, wisdom, and power. When the boys they completed each task, they got to open a treasure box and find one piece of the triforce puzzle.
Task #1: You must find the COURAGE to go on this challenging quest by completing a shield to protect you.
Each boy had a blank shield that we cut out of foam board. They got to design and color their own shields to take with them on the future tasks. They spent a long time working on their shields, and they turned out great.
Upon completion of their shields, they opened the treasure box. Inside was the first piece of their triforce, as well as a clue for the next task.
Task #2: Use your WISDOM to solve the riddles on the clues and complete the treasure hunt.
We created riddles that led them to places all over the house. They were Zelda themed and among the six clues were things like: finding 50 rupees hidden in the room (jolly ranchers), decoding a secret message, and finding a key to unlock the next treasure box. The kids were so engaged in this activity, especially decoding the secret message.
After finding and completing all of the clues, they found the key that unlocked the treasure chest and gave them the triforce of wisdom. They were also given slingshots and balls for their next task.
Task #3: Earn the triforce of POWER by conquering the monsters and enemies in Zelda.
We took all the boys out to the garage where we had set up a target range. I printed out pictures of several of the monsters (Ganon, bokoblins, lizalfos, yigas, etc.) from the Zelda game and glued them to plastic cups. There were about 12 all together. Some were even up high on ladders. We let the boys take turns trying to shoot them down using the slingshots. They weren't great shots at first, but they sure had a blast figuring it out.
After all of the monsters were defeated, they got to open their last treasure chest. It contained the last piece to their triforce and a bunch of party favors for the boys to take home. They got triforce fidget spinners that we made, heart candies to represent heart containers, and some jolly ranchers that represented rupees.
Then we ate the triforce cake with ice cream and opened presents. It was a whirlwind 2 hours, but the boys loved every second. Andrew had a great time, and hopefully, he felt special! The party came together so perfectly, and I hope it will be a great memory for Andrew. Nine is going to be a great year for this awesome boy.
Happy Birthday, Andrew!
And lastly, just a few things about Andrew at 9:
- Loves Legend of Zelda (obviously!) He is a natural video gamer with lots of skill, so we have to be careful about how much we allow or it starts to take over. Currently we have limited the Switch to weekends, which has been such a good change for everyone.
- Excellent in school-- great at reading, spelling, math, and Portuguese
- Lots of friends
- Interested in basketball and soccer
- Doing great at the piano-- Just finished Bastien level 2 books (He is playing Minuet by Bach for Spring Recital)
- Enjoying Calvin and Hobbes books
- Still has strong food preferences-- Loves bread, sweets, and rice. Hates cheese, and pretty much any food combinations... casseroles bring about many tantrums and tears still. This is probably one of our biggest challenges with him.
- Likes Phineas and Ferb cartoons
- Needs lots of positive reinforcement-- He is good at so much, but he needs to hear it from other people to believe it.
- Likes to bug his brothers, but is getting better at not losing his temper as much. He has finally learned to calm himself down after getting worked up, which has been a nice change.
- His love language is physical touch and words of affirmation. This kid needs lots of hugs and attention.
- Overall, he is a smart, talented, fun kid!
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