Quinn's Birthday in Retrospect

Quinn had not just a birthday but a birthday weekend :) I picked him up early on his birthday as planned and we went to the doctor for his well check. He weighs in at about 57 lbs. and is 51" tall. Right about the 50% for his age though I always have a hard time finding kids who are taller (oh wait, I just remembered that it's all the kids on opposing soccer teams, or so it seems...). We had a change in plans for dinner (McDonald's instead) and then headed to the airport to pick up the "non-delated" Nana and Papa. We came home and sang to Quinn, then he got his present from Nana and Papa -- a 600+ piece Lego Space Police set. He spent the majority of Friday and Saturday building that one! He also got a new automatic Nerf gun set from us, and a couple of Bionicles from Keely.

On Friday night, we went out to Porcupine's to celebrate a better birthday dinner...followed by ice cream from DQ. And then it was Saturday, the day Quinn's been waiting for since probably March :)

I prepared his cake in the afternoon and was quite pleased with the result. Good thing I flew in my professional icer (otherwise known as Nana). The brains behind this cake (and clearly the more creative of the two of us) was Quinn...he wanted a reptile cake and told me he would help make it. I really think it's my best work in his 8 years :)
His friends arrived between 5 and 5:30 PM and promptly began to tear apart the house and backyard...well not really, but boys will be boys and it seems like chaos without some sort of organized activity. They started with Nerf gun fights...we had bought a few extra so that each boy would have one. The fight continued until all boys had arrived and then we took them away so we could start the games. We had them play a bean bag toss and then Papa set up ladder ball and organized them in a game of that while dinner was being prepared. We served hot dogs, hamburgers and chips. I think the actual eating part occupied them for 5 minutes in total! Then we did the pinatas, Quinn had picked 2 frogs. I have no pictures of that activity but let's just say I'm glad no one got hit in the head with a stick!

Before cake and presents, I took this picture intending to get all the party guests smiling nicely. Guess the boys had other plans...
Quinn and his friend Isaac goofing off while singing Happy Birthday To You...
Getting ready to blow out the candles...
Eating cake and ice cream. Boy, that cake went fast!After cake and opening presents (which Quinn said was his favorite part), three of the boys left. Honestly I was about to go crazy at that point and really didn't think I was going to make it through the night. The noise level of 9 boys plus 2 girls was just too much to handle. But with each departure, it got more manageable. We ended up with 6 boys and 2 girls and it was a nice group of kids so the sleepover part went about as good as it could have. The boys all settled into the family room for a movie...
And that's where they ended up sleeping. Keely and Annika slept in our double sleeping bag in the living room. We turned off the TV after the movie, then they played DS for another 30 minutes or so, then we made them put them away. Then we turned off the lights and there wasn't much else for them to do but go to sleep...right about midnight they were all asleep :) But morning came early for them, someone woke up and then before I knew it they were all up....before 6 AM :( I demanded they go to the basement so we could adults could get some more sleep, and I think I actually fell back asleep until about 7:30 AM. They played so great for the 3 hours until it was pickup time. They loved the cinnamon french toast and bacon and then in a flurry they were all gone and the house was quiet once again.

So that was it, Quinn's birthday extravaganza is over. It's a good thing we have a year to recover because if he wants another sleepover, we need that long to be ready for that again. We're all tired still (2 days later) but the most important thing is that Quinn (and his friends) had a blast!