Zach's Bowling Birthday Bash And Then Some

Saturday we held Zach's birthday party with 10 of his buddies from school, church and the neighborhood. He had wanted to go sledding for his birthday, but with the lack of snow we've been having, I wasn't sure there would be enough snow anywhere close-ish to home, so we had to go with Plan B: Bowling.

We had two hours with two lanes, pizza and soda included, everything--including decorations--was taken care of by our party "hostess," the shoes were awesome, the balls were plentiful and light, and the bumpers were up. It was a fantastic 10th birthday party!

Our birthday boy...seriously, 10?!!!!!

What he lacks in style and form, he makes up for in gusto!
The audience approves.

I did say the shoes were rockin'! I love bowling shoes!

The party from behind....

The party from the front. Back to front, left to right: Grant, Nathan, Cory, Spencer, Zach, Tristan, Jordan, Carson, Josh, Ben, Quinton, Patrick and Josiah.

Because we could only have a certain number of bowlers, Ben and Josh weren't going to be able to bowl. Ben and Josh knew this ahead of time and were pretty gracious about it, but Adam and I were going to check into getting an extra lane once we got there. Unfortunately, we ended up on the end with two parties in the four lanes beyond ours, so we couldn't. They may have been fine with it before we got there, but once we got to the bowling alley that day they were pretty bummed. To make it up to them and to thank them for being such great sports about it, they get a special outing next weekend.

Tommy and Dad

As soon as I put the candles in the cake, Luke wanted to try blowing them out, even though they weren't lit yet. I think he's just getting himself all practiced up for his birthday in 6 months.

Zach wanted one of those cupcake cakes that are popular right now. I've been making the kids' cakes this year, and could probably have thrown one of those together, but with the busy December we've had, I was happy to grab this cupcake cake from Albertson's bakery case! He got all the candles out in one blow...I wonder what a 10-year-old boy wishes for.

It was a pretty tasty cake!

Zach received a lot of great gifts, a couple of books, games, gift cards for picking out something he likes (that's what I always get for the kids to give their friends too), a football, and more. He was pretty excited about all of it!

We had a great time celebrating Zach's birthday with his friends. They are so fun to watch interacting and being so boyish together. They cheered each other on, did a little taunting, groaned together at the bad rolls. Everybody had a great time. It was such an easy, funny, fantastic party!

Monday was Zach's actual birthday. He had school all day and a choir/handbell concert in the evening, but we still managed to squeeze some specialness into the day. I made mint chocolate cookies with a big chocolate "Z" on them for him to bring to school to share with his friends. He said everyone loved them and wanted more. And for breakfast he wanted doughnuts, so his loving father got up a bit early and went around the corner to the Albertson's for some fresh bakery doughnuts while I hard-boiled some eggs, just so breakfast wasn't all sugar. He requested sushi for dinner, so I picked him (and his Dad) up some California rolls and spicy crab rolls, but made stirfry for the non-sushi eating folk.He was also able to open his family birthday gifts. He opened his gift from Josh and Ben on Friday, before we headed to Skate City: a new pair of roller blades, since his old ones had become too small. Plus, he already knew what Luke and Tommy's gift was, a Hexbug Nano battle set, because three weeks ago, the day that Luke and I bought it at Costco, as soon as Zach walked in the back door after school, Luke excitedly blurted out, "Zach! We got you Hexbugs that fight for your birthday!" It was really funny, but that left just one gift for Zach to open on his birthday that he hadn't already opened or didn't already know about: a Ripstick, from Adam and I. It's like a skateboard, but only has 2 wheels, and he's been wanting one for a few months now so he was pretty thrilled.After the concert, we finished up the night with rootbeer floats. The kids all thought that it was terribly funny that I put a candle in Zach's, but it totally worked. We love you, Zach! Hope your 10th birthday was as spectacular to you as you are to us!