Birthday Boy

Xander celebrated his 9th birthday on Saturday. I was so busy with so many things this week, I decided to "buy" his party this year instead of "making" it. I bought a cake from Hy-Vee, they had a Bionicle theme in their book!

Xander opened his presents from us before I left in the morning (I had to take 2 high school students to competition in Brookings in the morning). This is the best smile I've been able to capture from Xander on film since he was about 4 years old!

This genuine smile occured when he discovered his BIG gift, a Nintendo DS. A combo gift from mom & dad and grandpa & grandma.

Maia helped Dad make a second birthday cake (for the family party in the evening) and really got into licking the beaters, apparently. Goofball.


Xander's friends party was at the Washington Pavilion center for arts and sciences. They had a clay studio theme, where they all got to make pottery and paint it. We'll get the finished product back in a couple of weeks. The kids (10 total including Xander & Maia) got to go to the science center for the last hour of the party. It was pretty easy when someone else provided the structure.



We were very proud of Xander when he agreed to allow his guests to bring a gift for Operation Christmas Child instead of a gift for him. It was a hard choice to make, but the family's gifts more than made up for all the little $10 gifts he would have gotten from friends. And now he has 8 boxes for OCC to take to church this week when they collect them.



As we were waiting for the last of the kids to leave from the party, I got a call from my mom, letting me know that everyone was waiting patiently (it was pretty chilly out) in our driveway for us to arrive.

We continued the party day with a family gathering, including Grampa Bruce, Grandma Georgie, Grampa Jim, Grandma Marilyn, Grandpa Dave, Aunt Rena, and cousins Cassie & Lexi.

Of course, Lexi & Xander disappeared together, so Cassie got to check out Xander's new DS. We bought it used, and it came with Pokemon Pearl, which apparently the former user had gotten all the levels on or something. She was so excited (yes, my 15 year-old niece is a Pokemon junkie- STILL!), that she was playing and texting a friend all at the same time.



Rena says, "Sure, she can't get her math done, but she can multi-task Nintendo and Text Messaging at the same time." What a girl. Everyone's got a special talent!

Monday, Xander chose to spend his birthday money at Target. First he traded in his Gameboy and some old games at a used game shop, then we went to Target, and he got a huge Bionicle set (he didn't build this one in an hour- it's still in many pieces on my table), a Nerf protective cover for his DS, and a DS game, "Lego Indiana Jones."

In all, a great birthday for a great kid!