Hayden’s 10th Birthday

We think birthdays are kind of a big deal around here. We celebrate as a family on the person’s birthday, then we have a “friend party,” and sometimes we even extend the celebrations an extra day when the person’s actual birthday falls on a particularly busy day. Take Hayden’s birthday, for example. It was Wednesday and we enjoyed the morning at the park (gorgeous day) but had Bible Study that evening. So we decided to have our special dinner the next evening. So we celebrated on Wednesday, Thursday, and again on Saturday! LOVE celebrating the dates that our sons joined our family. Very precious days , indeed.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011 (10 years to the day after Hayden was born.)

Carson was splashing and there were water droplets everywhere. I loved this picture!

The big three. Freezing, but having fun!

Parker wasn't allowed to get in the water... mean mommy.

Hayden running through the water.

Parker looks like he's preparing for a sermon.

Thursday, the day after his actual birthday we celebrated with lunch at Hayden’s favorite restaurant, the Brauhaus Castel in Mainz-Kastel. (These images are tinted yellow because we were sitting under a huge yellow umbrella. I’m not going to correct them…)

Hayden's favorite restaurant, the Brauhaus Kastel. (The other two brothers picked McDonald's for their lunches... Not Hayden. This boy knows good food! Each boy gets the "Sponge Bob" which is schnitzel and fries. Talk about an Americanized menu!)

The birthday boy enjoying his lunch. It's one place we literally eat everything that comes to the table. We had 3 Sponge Bobs, 1 adult Schnitzel meal, 4 pretzels with Spundekase, and I had Spargelsuppe. Oh, the spargelsuppe...

Then it was off to P.E. before heading home to make a cake. Hayden had asked for an ice cream cake and I was telling my mom about it. She had a bright idea that we could try to make our own, for a fraction of the cost of a Baskin-Robbin’s cake. So, Hayden and I set out to see if we could! This first attempt wasn’t very pretty, but it was yummy! So we decided we’d actually go for it for his birthday party.

Layers 1 & 2

Practice Cake for party. 3 layers. Cake, ice cream, cake. All that's needed is icing.

While the cake was freezing, we ate dinner. RIBS! YUMMY! (They crock all day in the crock pot with just “BB’s Rib Rub” on them, then we grill them for a while, basting them with Sweet Baby Rays. Most tender ribs you could imagine!)

Our whole family, including Parker, loves ribs. We decided to have ribs to on our night celebrating Hayden's birthday as a family.

YUMMY!!

Bailey in the process of enjoying his ribs.

Hayden decorating his cake. I don't really remember how the tradition started, but each boy LOVES to have their birthday party with a cake, but to also make a cake with me on their actual birthday. And THIS cake they get to decorate by themselves. Always an adventure.

For a super special treat for turning TEN, Hayden got to light his own candles! (And when he blew them out, he lit them again just for fun!)

And for the culmination of the celebrations, we celebrated with a Spy party at our house on Saturday!

The Spies ready for their mission

On the hunt for Clue #2

On the hunt for Clue #4

Do you see the envelope taped to the bar near Wyatt's knee? He's SO CLOSE!

Deciphering the code!

The basketball court clue told them to go to Hayden's Man Cave.

The last clue told them to go to the dining room table... the missing items from the party were the goodie bags!

Hayden received some great gifts at his party! From money to water swords to Star Wars figurines to Hero Factory people. Two of his gifts from us were a new (to us) bike and a Hard Rock Cafe collector pin! He was thrilled with all the gifts!