and also I had a birthday somewhere in there...
Grant loves his birthday. And he's been really excited for it to come along this year. He's been counting down the days to his birthday since Christmas. We finally made a little countdown calendar for him. He's also been telling me what he wants to happen on his birthday for some time. I was starting to worry that the real birthday wouldn't live up to the idea of it in his mind. Grant's birthday (and mine, which is 3 days before Grant's) both fell on the kid's spring break this year. So we had big plans for some spring break fun. Scott was here visiting on the weekend prior but had to leave on Monday (my birthday) to head back to work in CA. So we had a mini celebration for Grant over the weekend.
Grant shares a birthday with his great-grandfather, Grant Reeve (my mom's dad), who lives nearby my parent's house in Utah. So it's an exciting week all around.
On Saturday - Grant's mini pre-birthday with Scott, we got Sonic take out for the kids.
We used an old piece of cake just for singing Happy Birthday. Grant asked if he had to eat the cake. No. No you don't. :)
And he got to open a few presents early while Scott was there.
He got a hexbug, which he as excited about.
And the next day we celebrated my birthday early, so Scott could be there. I don't have a lot of pictures, but it was fun and we ate tacos and cheesecake. Then Monday, my actual birthday, I took Scott to the airport. By the time I got home I was feeling pretty sick. I had been up in the night helping Grant who had been throwing up and apparently I caught it. So I spent most of my birthday in bed with a stomach bug. Luckily my parents helped watch the kids.
By the time Grant's birthday arrived I was feeling mostly better. Here is a Minecraft Creeper piñata I made from a box. The pinatas at the store seemed pricey - after all its just a box shape. So I tried to make one. All ready for party fun.
TNT licorice. I got a bunch of ideas from pinterest for this party.
On the big day we made Grant bacon (with eggs...but mostly bacon) for breakfast. And Grant really wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese on his birthday. Chuck E. Cheese wasn't that close and I tried to talk him into some alternative place but he was firm. So we drove to Chuck E. Cheese in Salt Lake. There is one in Orem (slightly closer) but he also wanted to have lunch at a place up north, so we went that direction. My mom offered to watch Emma during our Chuck E. Cheese trip which was very helpful.
When we got to Chuck E. Cheese it wasn't crowded (thankfully) and we got our tokens.
Three little children disbursed with their tokens right away.
One just stood there almost paralyzed with indecision.
It was very strange. Grant had really wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese but once we got there he seemed nervous and scared. It wasn't crowded and the place was clean and nice, so I'm not sure what the problem was. He usually jumps right into things. I tried to encourage him to try some different games and he finally found one he liked - the roller coaster simulator, which he rode a bunch of times.
John felt like a rich man. He rode every riding attraction he could find...repeatedly. When he ran out of tokens he would shout across the room, "MORE MONEY!!!"
Grant was reluctant to get free tickets from Chuck E. as well. The other kids got right in there. Is "Birthday Paralysis" a thing?
Anna cleaned up on Skee Ball.
After we spent all our tokens we headed to lunch.
Grant said he wanted a hot dog from Freddy's.
So we went to Freddy's. I wished Scott was there. He is the best at ordering food for all of us.
It's not easy!! Grant wanted his own mint milk shake too. He ate some of his food, took a few sips of milkshake and then told me had a stomach ache. He recently had the same stomach bug I had so maybe he wasn't quite all the way back to full speed. We still had fun though.
Anna and John at Freddy's
Then we headed home and I prepped for a few Minecraft themed activities at home.
We had a brewing station (which is a thing in Minecraft to make potions)
The kids mixed some potions for dinner.
Anna made a potion of strength and then ran around the room performing various feats of strength. Grant was convinced his swiftness potion had made him faster...but the slowness potion had no effect.
We got the cake all ready
Grant helped me decorate it with some M&Ms and some of his Minecraft guys
Then we had a long treasure hunt with some games along the way.
One stop was the nether portal (it's supposed to be purple).
A feed the creeper (or attack the creeper or whatever) game.
We threw balls into his mouth and eyes.
We played pin the tail on the Minecraft pig
Anna pinned her tail perfectly on the pig.
On our treasure hunt we gathered different Minecraft entities, like gold, coal, TNT etc. John is ready to eat his licorice TNT.
And we had to defeat the creeper piñata at the end. I had been so busy running around I never got the creeper hung up by a string, so he just had to sit on a table.
The kids beat the stuffing out of him with sticks. Eventually the candy came out and all was well.
Grant got to blow out his candles
And enjoyed opening his presents.
He got some candy, lego sets and walkie talkies (plus a few other things)
He was excited to play with the walkie talkies.
Grant, at one point, told me it was a great birthday, so that's good.
He did ask if he could forego the cake again. What's wrong with my cake? :)
Anyway, it was a fun day - a birthday success. And now I'm tired.
Happy 5th Birthday Grant!!
