Jake’s 12th birthday was right on the heels of Faith’s big 8th birthday and being that it was a hectic time with trips back and forth to CA to see my dad, etc… I was less than ready to plan it. So, because he was raring to go, I gave him a time period (10-1 on Saturday) and a venue (our house) and set him to it on Evite. Did I feel a little guilty making him plan his own party? Yes. Did I feel so badly about it that I took it over? No.
So that’s how we came to have 18 kids at our house from 10-1 on Saturday March 10th. I have to give him credit- it was a really fun party. The mixed gender group arrived and spent the first 15 minutes in segregated groups with Faith in heaven hanging out with the gaggle of sixth grade girls. But within a few minutes they were intermixed and spent over an hour playing in the backyard on the trampoline, playing basketball on our mini court, and some flag football on the grass. My only job was to provide snacks and water and not embarrass Jake in front of the girls (considering I wore my overalls for the event the latter did not happen).
Brian and I provided the pizza and ice cream. Jake planned to have the kids play a game called “Bigger or Better” in which three teams of kids each start with a paper clip (or in this case, a broken crayon) and then have an hour to go through the neighborhood knocking on doors trying to exchange the crayon for something “bigger or better”. The teams meet back at the starting place after one hour and the judges (Tanner and Faith) decide which team wins. Jake decided the winning team would get to pick pizza and make ice cream sundaes first. After the game concluded the kids all ate and then it started to rain so they all decided to go on the hill behind our house and play Kick the Can. So they did. No one wanted to leave when parents arrived at 1.
It was the easiest and best party we’ve ever done for any of the kids. I love this age.
On his real birthday (Tuesday following the party) we did a quick after school family party with Cayden and Mom. Jake opened presents from all of us and Brian took him out to dinner at his choice of restaurant- Buffalo Wild Wings- where he had spicy wings and they sang happy birthday to him. I think his favorite part was wearing the “Wing Man” hat and being with Dad alone. For a present from us the only thing he wanted was a night away with Mom. Last year he asked for a night away with Dad and they spent a night in Boise downtown. This year it’s my turn and as far as I’m concerned he can have that same present every year for as long as he wants it. I’m a lucky mom.
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