Samuel's 9th Birthday Party

Samuel is going to have a birthday month. We started with his friend birthday party last weekend. Pictures are above. It was supposed to be an outdoor family movie night, but it was cold and the wind was really strong and the screen would not have been able to stay standing. We changed the party to a drop off your kids and we'll screen the movie inside kind of party. But then I realized as the RSVPs rolled in that we would have 25 kids. We decided to pick up ten large pizzas and Samuel and I ran to Target to get party favors and cupcake mixes. I made three dozen cupcakes while Samuel sat on the floor bagging favors. Michael and I pushed the furniture against the walls and Michael figured out how to aim the movie projector at the ceiling so we could project the Empire Strikes Back above our heads. We raided the camping bin and laid out lots of sleeping bags, blankets and pillows and a party was made.
We even had time for Michael to build a rocket in the garage with Davis. It was a busy, but good day.

The birthday continued as Samuel had a sleepover that night with his friends Tommy and Miles. We had a major hiccup in our birthday fun the next morning when Miles tried to jump off the swing while playing on the swingset and broke his collarbone. It was so awful and I felt so horrible for him. We all did. EMS came out and his mom came to his rescue. Samuel was deeply, deeply upset and took complete responsibility though we kept assuring him that it was an accident. He still feels bad. But we moved on a bit distractedly into the rest of our birthday plans after Miles was safely transported to the hospital. We drove down to Wurstfest where we met Martha and Clark and our friends Debbie and Brandon. The kids rode all the rides and we drank all the beer and had a good time, though none of us could shake the mornings events.
The birthday celebration continued yesterday evening when Martha and Clark came over and my parents and we gifted Samuel some more and sang to him and gifted Clark as his birthday is coming up as well. It was a very fun, impromptu celebration This weekend we will follow up with a family party at the beach with the Tomblin/Carnes families. And on Samuel's actual birthday, we will be boarding a cruiseship! Can't say we don't know how to celebrate!