This guy turned 12 the other day. Old fart.
For his birthday, he wanted to stay home from school. Because we are the most awesome parents in the world (some would think that we are absolutely the worst for this…..), we let him do just that. Crazy rebellious mom and dad, we are. He was a happy camper. Eric took him to the video place, rented Star Wars 1, 2 and 3 - He has never seen any of the Star Wars movies before - and MarioKart for the Wii and he had an epic day.
For dinner he wanted German apple pancake. Pretty much if you ever ask Cade what he wants for dinner it will be crepes, pancakes, waffles or french toast. So this request wasn't too surprising. What was surprising was that after the meal, he said he felt sick and later asked if maybe we could make it a little healthier next time. It was awfully sugary! Kind of ridiculously so. I will fully take advantage of a request from my child to make a more healthy version of anything!
For his birthday we gave him an old microscope that I found at a garage sale. I thought it was super cool - it came with a full kit of tools for dissecting and everything! He also got a game/puzzle called "Rush Hour" that I thought he would like. He was pretty thrilled with both gifts although now, six days later, I'm pretty sure he hasn't played with or used either of them at all.
That evening I made some cupcakes for him to take to school because after all, he still needed to have the best of both worlds - skipping school the one day but still being able to celebrate with his friends the next. Glenda gave me this handy-dandy cupcake carrying case thing for my birthday - perfect for sending these treasures to school!
One Friday night, the 16th, we had his party. Not surprisingly, he wanted a family party. So we invited all the family and figured we'd see who would show up. The plan was for night sledding, followed by chocolate fondue and cake at home afterward. We were pretty excited because the forecast was great - nice and mild…. something like -5. Except that we neglected to see what the windchill was supposed to be. That was a killer. It was -25 with the wind howling at us on top of that hill. Being the hardy Canadians we now are, we stuck it out.
The three girl Loewen cousins and the two youngest Giesbrecht cousins showed up along with my sister (mother...) and brother (father…. of the aforementioned cousins). I frustratingly tried to take some pictures and got a few even though I forgot batteries for my flash. And did a little sledding myself. I was pretty excited to got sledding with the headlamps that Kim gave us last year. But I forgot the batteries for those too. Sheesh.
Eric and Brent pushed the kids down the hill to keep themselves warm (and Brent ran up and down it a few times as well). And Kim? Well, she just went off and about got herself lost. Don't ask how this is even possible. We're not sure. Eric, Brent and I were watching her on the top of the hill wondering what on earth she was doing, walking in completely the wrong direction, until Brent finally decided he should rescue her from herself. He's so nice. Well, to her. I kind of wanted to keep watching to see when she might realize the error of her ways. I thought it would be much more entertaining (she is going to read this and then hurt me….)
Once we got home, we called in the reinforcements (aka: Grandparents) to let them know we were at home ready to party, so they all joined us. It was time for an abundance of chocolatey treats. I attempted to get some pictures of the birthday-singing, cake and candle-blowing festivities, but my camera was a little numb and fogged up from the cold. For a long time. As you can see. It actually looks pretty cool...
So I had to bust out the iPhone - only after it also warmed up. It literally froze for a while.
After some eating, there was a lot of energy to burn, so the kids headed downstairs for some Just Dance mania. Actually, that is how they also warmed up before the sugar-fest was ready. There were 10 kids (Mia had two friends over as well) all dancing (or watching the dancing) and having a fabulous time. It was so fun to watch them all and here them all singing like mad people. Apparently my dad got into the groove too but I don't have anything to prove it. My guess is that he purposely avoided the lens.
Even before this evening I had decided that a friendly dance-off night was going to be necessary. The enjoyment of the evening just confirmed it. A Just Dance night is in the works and what a party that will be!
A few more gifts...
Have you ever seen anyone so excited over sour straws? I never even knew he liked them that much!
It was a fantastic, very low key, low planning and executing time. Just my style. Not much work with great people and lots of fun.
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