8

My baby turned 8 on Saturday.  I begged him to stay 7, but he wouldn't do it.  He started the day with cinnamon rolls and some prepping for his and Zachs birthday party yesterday.  We went out for lunch, stopped in to Chuck E Cheese for a bit and had plenty of play time outside.  It was even better that Gram was able to come stay with us for a few days.  We ended the day with crepes and pumpkin pie for dessert, all per his request.

Sam is turning into the sweetest and most generous little man.  He's the kid who will get a treat or a toy and immediately offer to share with who ever is around.  He offers his sweater to Ellie when she's cold and he's always there to cheer on his siblings in any game or competition.

The highlight of Sams weekend was the joint birthday party on Sunday.  We did a marshmallow theme party and it turned out to be a lot of fun.

We set up barricades that we painted with camouflage paint, had a ladder we put cans and bottles on for target practice and did an obstacle course.

The kids were divided into 2 teams.  While one team made their guns, the other team did the obstacle course.  After everyone had guns made we let them start the target practice.  I think they were a bit skeptical about us actually letting them shoot marshmallows all over our back yard, but only for a minute. Once we put out the buckets and buckets of marshmallows, they went at it.  I think 75% of them were shot in the guns and the rest were eaten, mostly by Zach.

They played a few intense games of capture the flag despite the wind constantly knocking down the boxes.

It was a blast watching them run around the yard with marshmallows flying everywhere.  Jon couldn't resist the excitement and brought out his inner sniper.  

I was kind of shocked we had to practically beg the kids to stop playing so we could cut the cake.

After more play time, we ended the party with one of my favorites, the clean up game!  The kid who picked up the most marshmallows from the grass won a bag full of goodies.  All the kids collected over 2,000 marshmallows from the lawn and we're still finding some outside.  I'm amazed by that. The party ended up being a huge success. I just hope the neighbors don't end up hating us when  kids want to have marshmallow wars all over the neighborhood!