5 Days of a 10th Birthday

We celebrated Eli's 10th birthday on 5 different days!

Quick recap but LOTS of pictures!

Day 1: I don't have any pictures of it, but Mimi and Papa came up the weekend before Eli's birthday and they took him out for a birthday dinner. He chose Lin's Garden which is a Chinese buffet. We often get take-out from there but hardly ever eat-in, so this was a treat!

Day 2: The Thursday before Eli's birthday, I took a special snack to his class. He chose cookies & popcorn.

Handing out the popcorn to his friends....

Listening to his friends sing "Happy Birthday" to him...

Finally getting to sit down and enjoy his snack. (He got a little lesson in serving others while passing out the snacks. Some of the boys wanted 2nds & 3rds before he had even sat down to eat his 1st helping!)

Day 3: Whew! He had been planning his actual party since about February. He waivered on two different ideas on and off through the spring and summer months. Around August, he finally decided he would have a sleepover (our 1st one at our house) with a few friends.

We went grocery shopping for cool drinks & snacks (cool meaning things that Mom usually doesn't buy for him).

Here are the drinks with the labeled cups. Just waiting for his friends arrival!

(as a sidenote, they went through the Root Beer and 1 of the Fantas in about 2 hours. And that was only 4 boys!)


Emma Kate labeled her own cup in her new cursive handwriting....


Chips meant for 9 & 10 year old boys....

And some 2 year old boys who think that the birthday cake sure does look yummy!...
After we played in the yard for a little bit, we sat outside and had pizza and chips. See the boy in the gray shirt? That is Caleb and he DOES NOT like to have his picture taken. He purposely looked away when he saw me with the camera!

Eli striking a pose...

Alex showing us his version of the water sprinkler....

Next we went back inside and gathered up our sleeping bags since Eli's daddy was setting up the tents outside....

Here are the tents! A 10person tent for the 4 boys and a 4person tent for the 1 daddy.

The boys getting their "camping spot" set up.

and a pillow fight immediately breaks out....

Then it was time to go back inside for cake & presents. We went with a Tim Tebow'ish theme this year. We had these Gator things left over from Eli's party last year...

but the cake was of Timmy's new Broncos jersey...


blowing out candles....

Zane enjoying the cake....

Imagine that....Zander's piece is already gone!

Time for presents!

Alex gave Eli money which he is so excited to use to buy a DS game!

Preston gave Eli this COOL faux bow!....

From Caleb, Eli received juggling balls and a neat electric dragster which he loved putting together!....

When it started getting dark, Philip loaded the boys up in the car and took them to the Corn Maze!

Here they are using their flashlights to scout out the map of the CornMaze. You can't really tell it from this map, but the maze is in the shape of a Razorback....

And they're off!....

Corn Maze Accomplished!

Shooting the corn cannons was next on the list....

Philip then took them to the flag football fields near our house and they played Nighttime Dodgeball with some light-up balls I found for them....

Eli says this was the best part of the night....

The boys all came back home around 10:00 and they were hungry. We had a late night popcorn snack. Philip then had them all in their tents and settling down for sleep by 11:00.

The rest of the night seemed to be uneventful (thankfully).

The next morning, Philip came inside and this is what he looked like....

Day 4: Started out with doughnuts. Zaney boy LIKED them!

And so did Zander Griffy!

Eli had a flag football game so the boys had to leave from the sleepover around 9:00am. While we were waiting outside for Daddies to arrive, the boys played with the faux bow....

After Eli's flag football game, we had lunch and then opened family presents. (this was the actual day of his birthday).

He was so excited to see a Wii Lego Star Wars game from Mimi and Papa!

as well as The Grinch movie from Aunt Kim. This was especially meaningful this year as he and Emma Kate are dressing up as The Grinch and Cindy Lou Who for Halloween!

The biggest mouth-dropper of all though was opening a Tim Tebow Broncos jersey from Mom and Dad.

It even warranted giving Mom a GREAT BIG hug!

Eli's birthday day ended with a family fun trip to New Creation Camp (aka the Fink Family Farm) for the PCCA 4th grade class.

This wonderful acreage is a boys paradise!

Looks like even the girls like playing in the dirt too!

Hayride included....

as well as a bonfire and s'mores! Told ya this place is FANTASTIC!!

Day 5: The last day of Eli's 10th Birthday celebration happened 3 days after his birthday when Grandma and Grandpa came. Look at what they got for him:

His bike was WAY too little. This one is a bit big for now but he is learning how to get on and off. It should last him for a long time!

A lot of FUN and memorable happenings for Eli's 10th birthday! We are blessed that God chose us to be his parents! He is truly an enjoyable gift!