O Family and More: Colin Turns 7

Colin had his seventh birthday on September 7th. After not having birthday parties the past two years, he definitely was ready for a bash with friends this year. He invited 9 boys from a combination of preschool, kindergarten, first grade, and activities. The party was on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend so we thought a lot of people would have travel or other plans but luckily everyone accepted (although one boy was sick the day of). We gave him a few options for where to host the party and he chose SportsOhio which is a sports complex near our house. His party consisted of 30 minutes of bouncy houses (indoor in this complex), followed by 30 minutes of playing soccer on a big indoor field, and then an hour for pizza, popcorn, cake (Minecraft themed) and some time in the small arcade. Surprisingly we were the only group in this big place so we had it all to ourselves. The boys had a great time running around, yelling, and being 6 and 7 year old boys. Julia and Caroline were there too of course and participated in all of the fun. After the party Colin spent the afternoon playing with all of the many presents he got (this was the first time for him having a big friend party and getting lots of friend presents) and we got prepared for writing lots of thank you notes!

Colin and his buddies at his birthday party

Creeper face cake

On the actual day of his birthday (Wednesday), Colin had soccer practice (and school) so it was a pretty typical day. We had carryout Wendy's for dinner (a treat for him) and then after soccer we had leftover cake and opened gifts from family members.

Grandma and Grandpa came the following day and brought more gifts and more celebrating! They helped out with the kids and Keith while I was putting in some long hours at work so it was really nice having them there. The weekend brought some apple picking and one last celebratory dinner at Culver's (Colin's choice) since we didn't get to go out to dinner on his actual birthday.

So it was almost a full week of celebration but what's not to celebrate?

Colin is full of life at 7 years old. He's a kid who knows what he wants and what he doesn't want and he isn't afraid to tell you. Headstrong is one way to put it! But he definitely has a sweet side as well. He's bright and he loves to read. He has a love for non-fiction books which I find interesting at his age. He likes to read about anything from rocks to real-life pirates, to volcanoes, to dinosaurs, to ancient Egyptians, you name it. He loves to play with other kids and is a definite extrovert. He's playing soccer and doing Taekwondo these days and he'll be playing basketball in the winter. He's still the tallest one in his class and no one can believe that he's only 7 and in the first grade. He keeps us on our toes as parents, that's for sure!

Happy birthday Colin!