Jack's Birthday & Party!

On the morning of Jack's birthday the kids gave him his gifts. 

Zeke gave Jack $12, Owen gave him $3 and then Ella gave him card.

That morning we met Rachael and the kids at the track. Rachael's kids had cards for Jack and they each gave him a little bit of money. It was the sweetest thing!

Every year I go with the Kim and her kids to the strawberry patch in early June. Since all my kids have been in school they haven't been able to enjoy this outing. 

It worked out that Jack's birthday was the best day for us to go. It was packed at Duris Farms! I think people were just so excited to finally have somewhere to go and something to do with their kids. 

The weather was perfect! Mostly cloudy, but bright. No rain thank goodness! There was a moment there where the sun peaked through the clouds and it got hot! Thankfully it went behind another cloud shortly after that. 

The kids did such a great job picking nice ripe berries. There were probably about 10 berries that I had to throw out since they weren't all ripe. 

I think we were there less than an hour. We picked a whole box of strawberries and it cost us $25. It was so nice to get out and do something fun with the kids. After that we went back to Kim's house...they've been remodeling their bathroom so she wanted us to see the progress. It was fun for the kids to get to play together. The Storer kids gave Jack a card and sang him happy birthday as well...he was one spoiled boy that's for sure! 

Around noon we left their house to go pick up Hansi! Jack's one request for his birthday was to have Hansi spend the night. The boys have only seen each other once during this whole quarantine period and that was when we went to Tea Time to celebrate Hansi's birthday in April. 

I swear Hansi grew a ton since we last saw him! 

He gave Jack an old guitar of his...it's a smaller guitar, but not a ukulele. Jack's been having fun writing song with Ella since he got it. Hansi also got Jack this new BeyBlade that he wanted. I'm not sure how many BeyBlades Jack now has...I need to have him lay them out again and take another picture like I did last year. 

Buddy hugs! 

For dinner Jack wanted Burger King and to go play at a park. We drove to the Burger King in downtown Kent and then went to play at West Fenwick Park. It's one of Jack's favorite parks because of the Ninja Warrior type playground and he loves the big hill you can climb. 

After dinner we came home and watched the movie Playing with Fire. 

The next day was Jack's birthday party with Pa, Papa & Ruth. Poor Ga-Ga had gotten the stomach flu earlier in the week so she wasn't able to make it. She talked with Jack the day before on his actual birthday and once he got off the phone with her he started to bawl! He was so brokenhearted that Ga-Ga was going to miss his birthday. She's never missed one and it just hurt. I honestly think it was just the last straw. The kids have had so many things canceled....School, Awanas, Summer Camp, Camping Trips...it's finally just added up and he lets his emotions out. I was trying now to lose it when he was crying since I was driving the truck to pick up Hansi. I hate it when my kiddos get their hearts broken! 

Jack recovered though and he had a great party! For breakfast I got up earlier than normal on a Saturday and I made Jack's favorite....waffles with strawberries. I used the yummy fresh berries we had just picked the day before. So good! Jack wanted Costco Pizza for lunch so Pa stopped at Costco and picked that up for us. Papa & Ruth brought a salad with yummy dressing! 

Pa went around and took pictures of all the partygoers! 

Ella and her Daddy!

Pa and his princess! 

Pa & the birthday boy! 

Zeke enjoying the boys new book nook. A few days prior to this I decided to rearrange the boys room so now Zeke's bed isn't under Jack's. So far it's working great! 

Papa & Ruth! 

When it was time to open presents we video called Ga-Ga so she wouldn't miss out! 

Papa & Ruth got Jack a few things...a Whoopee Cushion, one of those whiffle ball throwing/catching games...you can see the green mitt in the background and crafting stuff...wood glue and sticks. 

Ga-Ga & Pa got Jack more Beyblades and of course $12! 

I got Jack more than I normally would just like I did Zeke. I just figured if I wasn't spending the money on an actually birthday party why not! 

We love Game Wright games so I got Jack these two games....Jump Ship & Stowaway 52. They are choose your adventure games like those choose your adventure books that we used to read. They are super fun! 

I actually got this game way back on Black Friday. We've played normal CodeNames before, but it was hard for the kids. I figured the Disney version would be easier. Even though Jack's got his total fake cheesy smile on he does actually like all the games. He wasn't sure about CodeNames, but once we played it he enjoyed it. 

His main gift was this fun Jousting set. I always love to get Jack something that's for outside and something that requires you to play with others. He wasn't sure about this either. Let's face it if it's not a BeyBlade or money he's gonna be leery of it! 

For his cake Jack wanted a homemade chocolate cake and homemade Orange Sherbet. 

After all the partygoers left we got his Jousting Set put together. 

Ready to joust! 

Hansi's death stare! 

Balancing on those blown up platforms is what makes it hard. Since Jack has always struggled with his core muscles this was really good for him. 

Ready...begin! 

I will say the Jousting set is fun, but it's also frustrating. The blown up parks on the ends of the sticks don't nestle down as far as they should so they start to come off and that's lame. We've tried to get them down to where they should be. We might need to watch a Youtube video to see if there are any other tricks we didn't try yet. Thankfully even though they come apart the kids do have a lot of fun with them. Of course they played with them in the house and broke one of my vases already. The older boys were so sorry and now for the most part the jousting set stays outside! 

That night I took Jack over to Hansi's so they had one more night/day getting to hang out! It was a great celebration of Jack even though it was different than normal!