With seven people in the house, it is surprising how often birthdays come around (except mine, which stubbornly holds to a once-a-year frequency). Because of this, we don’t celebrate a ‘big’ (expensive) party every year for every child. We’ve tried to alternate between a ‘family-only’ party one year, and a larger event including friends, the next.

This year it was particularly important to make a big deal of David’s birthday, because Kathy was away last year for his tenth birthday, attending her father on his death-bed. David has not let us forget this, over the intervening year. “I just really like it when both my parents can be home for my birthday,” he explained, earnestly. “I didn’t really get a party last year,” he told us, somehow not complaining, yet tugging at our heart-strings all the same.

The birthday boy, himself.

Just to be difficult, Kathy and I decided to introduce a little doubt about this year’s party. That’s how we roll, as parents.

“I don’t know, David. You know Mom and I have been trying to stay on a budget. These parties can get expensive,” we told him. “I suppose maybe you could have one or two friends over for a small party,” we grudgingly admitted.

David is very concerned about our budget, and will often ask us not to spend money on him. Kathy had decided to throw him a surprise ice skating party, and a little misdirection goes a long way to maintaining a surprise of this nature.

Kathy already wrote about the actual birthday itself, but that was a family affair. We scheduled his ‘friend party’ for today, the following Saturday. On the day of the party, David and I rose early to attend a men’s prayer breakfast at church, which had the happy effect of getting us out of the house for the morning, while Kathy and the girls prepared. After the breakfast, David and I went to pick up his friend Eli, and then on to Alex’s house. David knew he was having some kind of party with these two boys, but I chose to be closemouthed about any details.

Rachel brought a few friends along, to round out the party.

“What do we do after we pick up Alex?” David asked me.

“I’ll have to check and see if I have any instructions,” I told him in my most boring voice of a Dad-who-is-not-really-paying-attention. Eventually I took them to a donut shop, so they could each pick out a personal donut. But I still had time to kill. So I stopped off at church, and took the long way to the ice rink — all along, David had no clue what we were doing.

When we got to the rink, David somehow missed the ‘Ice Arena’ sign. “Are we going rock climbing? he asked. “They have tennis here, too,” one of his friends suggested, playing along.

Watching for the Zamboni

Inside the doors of the recreational center, David saw Angie L., leaning casually against the wall. “How odd,” he thought. “What a coincidence that she would be there!”

David is blessed with a fine group of friends.

Then they all yelled ‘Surprise!’ and the whole crowd gathered ’round with presents and congratulations. Even then, David couldn’t see the ice. “Are all these people going rock climbing with us?” he wondered. It wasn’t until they opened the doors and he was issued his skates, that he realized we were all ice skating, something he’d been wanting for months.

Sarah helped me around the rink a couple of times.

It was a very successful party. Nancy and Debbie and Niki and Jacque helped with the refreshments, and no one was badly hurt. I managed to escape with only minor knee injuries. Even more surprising, 25 people kept the party a secret, in spite of several accidental references, which happily went over David’s head.

On the way home, I couldn’t help asking how this party compared with previous ones, including the legendary ‘Best Party Ever’ that Joshua arranged for David in 2009. As always, David found a diplomatic way to answer the question.

“It was a great party, Dad. It was at least as good as that party, maybe even better,” he sighed in satisfaction.

Tim

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A momentous day indeed. David, who just yesterday was a mere child of 10, turned 11 years old today. Practically a young man. Gulp.

And what would a family blog be without some pictures of this special day.

David and I saw this idea for rainbow pancakes on Pinterest

We have a tradition of decorating the house (on the eve of the birthday) from top to bottom for the birthday child. I’ve done all sorts of different decorating themes from streamers and balloons to ribbons and birthday signs. The Dollar Store has a wonderful collection of simple (affordable) birthday banners and signs. I hang them and then carefully pack and store them from year to year. I love to shop for gifts which is why I always prefer going on the Gift Geek website as they have the best gifts ideas at reasonable prices for almost every occasion, thus make it quite easy for me and also giving me time to concentrate on other things to make the birthday the best.

It’s funny how often birthdays come up when there are five children.

Be careful of the traditions you start, I now say. Ha!

Table all set for the b-day boy

And yes, I do my most creative work after midnight, so pre-birthday nights are often late ones for me. It’s worth it, I think, to see and hear the kids’ excited voices in the morning (after I’ve had my coffee and the fog has lifted). Many times the older children join me in decorating (when I’m willing to start a little earlier in the evening). Last year I was in the midwest, sitting by my father’s hospital bed, over David’s birthday. It was a devastating time on many levels, and David was heartbroken that I was gone for his special day. Amidst all the sadness, it was a joy to hear that Tim and the children all pitched in to do Mom’s Decorating Work and created a beautiful birthday morning for David.

The birthday boy in pictures!

I always try to do something a little special in my decorating (there’s only so many times you can hang streamers without it getting a trifle blasé). This year I decided to go through my picture file folders and create some collages of David’s birthdays over the past 10 years. It was difficult to weed through the pictures and not print pages and pages of photo memories, but I managed to condense the birthday celebrations to 6 pages. I printed them on card stock and spread them all around the birthday table. We’ll laminate them and save them in David’s memory bin. We also prepared funny coffee mugs for every member of the family.

Poor David had to wait ALL day to really celebrate his birthday. Tim was working in Seattle and wasn’t home until late. We have a strict rule (although it might be unwritten) that you can’t open presents until all the family is assembled. David took the day off from school and enjoyed computer games, a movie, and just generally not having to do “work,” but No Presents.

Sarah worked on David’s birthday dessert, an elaborate creation of yellow cake, Oreos, chocolate pudding, Cool Whip and chocolate sauce. Oh, and we threw in a few M&M’s to round things out.

David requested a cake/pudding trifle for his birthday this year.

Of course, no dessert until Daddy got home either. My goodness, a day to build character. It’s a good thing David turned 11 and is now full of wisdom and patience.

How delicious!! Yum.

Finally Tim returned home and we could open presents, eat trifle and end the day with Joshua’s reading of a chapter in The Hobbit.

And what would a birthday be without some weapons?

Some Birthday Quotes:

“You did it, Mom, you made the colored pancakes that we saw on Pinterest.” Gotta love a 11 year old who already knows about Pinterest. “Thank you, they are delicious. and yes, I’ll take chocolate milk with them.

“I have to tell you, I just really LOVE getting all the attention on my birthday.” Said matter-of-factly, cheerfully and with a deep of sigh of contentment as siblings were doing his chores, getting him little treats, and just generally making him Star for the Day. Such an honest reflection – don’t we all like to be special at least once a year.

“YES!! I was really hoping for some real weapons on my birthday.” This was as David opened his double morning star that Tim bought. Yikes. What is it about boys and weapons?

“It’s hard to believe I’m actually 11. Joshua, does it just take a while until you start to feel like you’re really 11?” To which Joshua replied,
“Yep, just give it time. It’s only been one day.”

New t-shirt from Mom and necklace from Rachel - David loves gifts!

Mom

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