Watching your first born kid grow from a baby into a person has got to be one of the most fascinating things there is in life. Seeing how his life unfolds each day is the most enlightening process. With Oren and Ever, I dare say I kind of know what to expect with each new age and phase, but with Wes everything is the first time and it's always new. We've been doing family birthday parties at home for all the kids for the last seven years and I never really knew how long that would go on. But when we asked Wes about his birthday this year all he wanted was a party at Chuck-E-Cheese and to invite all his friends.
I was all for friends at the party but I have to admit I tried my hardest to waylay his chuck-e-cheese fantasy (to no avail as you can clearly see). I love having personalized parties at home surrounded by our nearest and dearest, so the idea of celebrating in a public place alongside strangers is not exactly my ideal. But he wanted in that ticket blaster and there was no convincing him otherwise.
Cheryl made this AMAZING Minecraft block cake per Weston's request. There are over 1000 individual squares of fondant applied to the outside! Her talents are unbelievable! And do you see that number 8 she has hidden on there?
Our family and friends all came together to celebrate our little guy on his birthday. It actually turned out to be a pretty fun time after all and I know the kids especially loved every second.
I. Love. Calvin. Price.
The cake was delicious, by the way, and Wes could not wipe the smile off his face all day.
And then finally, the whole reason for the season - the TICKET BLASTER!
This is basically all he cared about doing and was so pumped about his chance to catch the "golden ticket" that was floating around in there. (It's a scratch off ticket with a surprise value and there's only one in the mix). He caught handfuls of tickets during his whirlwind minute in the spotlight but, alas, not The Golden Ticket.
So, when our Chuck-E-Cheese party helper slyly slipped it to him after he exited the booth crestfallen - well, that's what birthday dreams are made of, folks. WOULD YOU LOOK AT THIS KID'S FACE?!
(Haha, obviously she was tipped handsomely at the end of this party ;)
p.s. the surprise value of the ticket was 1000 tickets! Wes chose a gum ball machine from the prize counter and could not have been more happy about life.
At the end of the night Abby came back to our house and brought Wes his annual, personal birthday pie. So even though this year has already brought a lot of new changes along with it, it's nice to know we still have lots of other sweet traditions to hang on to.
eight year olds, man.
Thanks to everyone who helped make this birthday boy's day the best it could possibly be. We love you Wes, and we can't wait to see what other surprises year eight has in store for us.
