How did he go from here...
to here...
so quickly?
I guess that is just the way it happens! I'm going to do a little "look-back" on Jack over the years, but I will put that in a separate post...for this one, I will concentrate on all the FUN we have had celebrating Jack's 9th birthday this year!
It all started on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, when we met up with some good friends at Plaza Fiesta, the Southeast's Largest (and cleanest, so their slogan says) Indoor playground!
Jack & Tyler have birthdays within a few days of each other, and at an already busy time of year. We both wanted to have a small celebration with just a couple of friends, so it worked out perfectly for us to all celebrate together with Jenny's family! Six adults, 11 kids, & 2 more on the way...we are quickly becoming outnumbered!
Jenny & Celia had spent the day Black Friday shopping, while we had spent our morning getting our Christmas tree. By Friday evening, I think all of the kids were ready for some good, old-fashioned, run & climb & slide & jump & swing play-time! Let me just say it was craziness & all of the kids LOVED it! I didn't happen to snap any pictures in the play structure as we were all too busy running around after kids. (Okay, I confess, I was sitting on a bench talking to Celia in between chasing after kids!) I have to say, I am glad to be 6 months pregnant, so I had a good excuse not to chase Drew all up & down the climby things. He loved the slides & so did Darcy! The huge green tube slide you see in the picture above is curvy & fast (so I hear!) & I don't know how many times Jeff went down that thing with Drew. At the end of the night, Darcy kept saying "Just one more time" and probably did that slide about 6 times in a row!
After playing strong for about an hour, we started hearing a familiar chorus of "I'm hungry", so we headed over to the food court to eat. (Here is where I was finally able to snap a few pictures!)
Drew is ready for dinner, "Where's my food??"
Everyone enjoying dinner!
Jack chowed down on two huge plates of Mexican food...
a burrito (look how cheesy!), a quesadilla, and fries! Man, 9 year olds can eat!
Then it was time for "Happy Birthday" and cupcakes (thanks Celia for bringing such yummy treats!)
Tyler the big 7 year old!
Jack our handsome 9 year old!
Finger-licking good!
EVERYONE enjoyed the cupcakes!
Especially Jackson!
And Drew! (Look Ma, no hands!)
Mmmmm, can I get more frosting?
Sweet Sophie posing with Drew...I think he's smitten!
Aw, kisses!
After eating, the kids headed back into the playground for a bit more climbing, sliding & playing...but we were all getting tired, so we wrapped things up pretty quickly & took all of our crews home, tired & happy! A very sweet birthday celebration with sweet friends, what better way to kick-off birthday festivities!
.....But, wait, there's more....
On Saturday, after a busy day of tree-decorating & house Christmas-izing (separate tree-decorating post to follow, as well!), we celebrated Jack's birthday again with our traditional "family party" including grandparents, aunts & uncles, and COUSINS! It is a special tradition to celebrate each of the cousin's birthdays with a little family party & our kids look forward to the annual parties in March (two parties now!), April, October, November (2 parties again!)
Darcy playing with Molly
Drew with Pop
Emily reading to Sophie
Jack opening presents!!
Drew wants to help!
Jack doesn't like getting his picture taken, so I get this face a lot!
Now that's better, a new Webkinz Jack Russell Terrier can make Jack smile!
And a funny card!
More cousin time!
Darcy being Darcy!
Drew finally got a present to hold! (He LOVES playing with DVDs or CDs, but thankfully this one still had the plastic wrap on!)
Jack's football cake (gotta love Costco!!) I think probably at least 4 of his 9 birthday cakes have had a football theme!)
Happy Birthday Dear Jaaaaaaccck...
Happy Birthday to YOU!
Getting ready to blow out the candles!
I actually have no idea what the girls are doing in this picture!
Drew is ready for his cake!
The fork works pretty well...
...but I think this way is faster...
...cut out the middle-man, you know...
...here you have some!
See how cute I am!
You're the one!
Okay, a mama just can't resist cute piggie toes!
Reading with Yaya
Tickles with Grandpa
Huge belly laughs!
Jack's family party was a success, another super evening & a great time was had by all!
****But we aren't finished yet, just two more celebrations to go!!****
Jack's actual birthday was yesterday, so I met him at school (& brought McDonald's!) to eat lunch with him. I also brought along 2 dozen frosted & sprinkled donuts to share with his class!
Jack at school
Jack & his good buddy, James
Mrs. Doyle & the class singing Happy Birthday to Jack. After singing Happy Birthday, they sing a chorus of May God Bless You, and then Mrs. Doyle prayed over Jack.
And then a sweet treat to end a quick, sweet celebration!
****Congratulations, you've made it this far! Now for the final celebration!****
With all of the celebrations, Jack got lots of presents, but we had not given him our birthday present yet. Jack patiently waited all day long to get his birthday present...
...and was very surprised & excited to come home from school to a brand new basket ball goal at the end of the driveway!
We had been thinking of this for a while & knew it would be something that Jack (and the whole family) would love!
Jeff worked diligently & stealthily the past few days to dig the hole in the ground & pour the cement. Then he was able to come home from work a few hours before Jack got home from school to put the pole & backboard up. I tied on a red bow & made a "Happy Birthday Jack" sign for the yard.
Of course, Jack couldn't wait to get right out & start shootin'! This is his first shot & it was good!
He shoots...he scores!
And he kept shooting...
and shooting...
Drew wanted to give it a try, too!
And Sophie!
And Darcy, too!
Jack getting fancy
Almost ready for the pros!
Drew thinks that any game involving a ball is fun!
It took Sophie several tries,
but she finally got the hang of it & put several in the hoop herself! She was soooooooo excited!
After everyone had worked up an appetite, we headed over to IHOP for a birthday celebration dinner!
Darcy loves IHOP!
Playing the hand-stack game while we were waiting on our food
Drew playing with one of Jack's new Tech Deck skate boards
Sophie coloring
And after we feasted on pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, funny-face pancakes, fruit & more...the wait staff came clapping & singing over to the table with a special birthday ice cream sundae for Jack!
Drew is hoping the clapping & singing people are coming back with a sundae for him next...
Darcy was happy to finish off Jack's huge sundae!
Lucky for us, kids eat FREE at IHOP on Tuesday nights!
Sophie helping Darcy polish off that sundae
And Drew finishing up his favorite, chocolate milk!
It was a great day & we had so much fun celebrating Jack's birthday! Jack told me to look at what he had written in his daily homework folder...and right after "Read for 30 minutes" he had written, "Best.Birthday.Ever!" Aw, makes my heart smile! It wasn't super fancy or elaborate, just lots of family time + lots of love + lots of little celebrations = 1 big happy 9 year old!
****Thanks for sticking with me to the end of another looong post...I promise, one of these days I will get the hang of posting shorter posts more frequently, but right now, they just seem to accumulate faster than I can get them posted!
5 comments:
It was the "best birthday ever" by these great pictures. I never tire of looking at my beautiful grands. I'm so thankful that God has blessed our family with the joy of happy children. I'm also thankful that the kids are in a wonderful Christian environment. I was blessed that Jack's teacher said a prayer for him on his birthday. How sweet is that and such a blessing to me.
whew! what a happy bday celebration... kind of hard to go back to "normal" after all that fun! i CANNOT believe jack will hit double digits next year... i still think of him as the tiny little guy in the first picture! he's certainly a handsome, friendly, polite, sportsy kid. and drew - the pics of him with his cake are GREAT! he's at such a fun (and busy!) stage. kudos to you, melanie, for making jack's bday so special!
What a GREAT birthday!! We think alike - we were at IHOP for lunch that same day for Garrett's free pancakes & ice cream!
Jack is loved!!! Happy Birthday to a wonderful young man! I can't believe how fast time flies!!! We had a blast celebrating with y'all and it was very special for Tyler to share his birthday with Jack!!!
PS You, Missy and I all have that same green shirt!!! :-) Great minds shop alike!
Look at that cool basketball hoop! What a great gift for such a special young man. We had so much fun celebrating with you guys! Happy Birthday Jack!
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