Jordan's 8th birthday

The day of Jordan's eighth birthday party began in the best possible way: with a trip to the Lego store to redeem the gift certificates from Grandpa. They made out like bandits.

Then it was party time again. There was an entertaining economy of scale to having two birthday parties on one weekend. We had the same bouncy house, the same tasty treats, and the same house beverage for the adults (a light Moscato). The weather was better for Jordan's party; although it rained all morning, it cleared in the afternoon, so after Dale mopped out the bouncy house the eight-year-olds bounced just as much as the five-year-olds had. They discovered that if they worked together, they could make it collapse onto its side... but there were no injuries, no fights, no destruction, and everyone seemed to have a great time, so we're calling it a big win.

The guests were Theo, Evan, Georgie, Watson, and Sam from Wedgwood Elementary, Nathaniel and Amara from the SJCC, and Marco and Benjamin from Temple Beth Am. Here's the crowd taking a watermelon break. For those who did not care to bounce, there was chess.

By the time kids are eight, birthday parties are mainly dropoffs, but we were happy to talk Sara, Micheline, and Angela into spending the afternoon with us. Let it be known that we consider birthday parties to be choice parent occasions, too, and will always put out a good spread!

Jordan had the pleasure of drawing the dragon for his cake. It came out great! He was delighted. Check out how the candles accentuate the dragon fire... Mommy is clever that way.

Aaron and Amara enjoyed each others' company a lot and kept a healthy distance from the big kids.

Jordan opened presents outside. 

I love the cards that eight-year-olds make. Here is a small sample... 

It might help to know that Georgie got Jordan a book called How to Be A Pirate, and Evan and Nathaniel both got him Pokemon stuff. Nathaniel's card shows Jordan beating Nathaniel at Pokemon!

Needless to say, Jordan's Pokemon collection has now substantially increased. There was plenty to support a multi-player whatever-it-is-that-they-do-with-all-this. 

It was a great day, and a heck of a weekend. Happy birthday to Jordan!