Noah's 9th Birthday

We started planning Noah's 9th birthday a while ago but the options for parties around here are quite slim compared to PA.  In the city there isn't a lot of space for large "party" areas" and so you have to drive to the suburbs.  We've been to a couple of painting parties and moon bounce parties, but it is definitely a lot different here!  

Of course, I can't say no to a party!

We settled on a trampoline park about 25 minutes away and invited a bunch of our friends and neighbors.  

I was organized enough to get invitations ordered well in advance and to think through goodie bags early on to do by mail order.  Despite all of that on the morning of the party I was so frustrated because i couldn't hop in the car to get the little things I was missing and I didn't have the energy to do all of the little surprises I usually do.  

Of course Paul came to the rescue and was amazing.  On Saturday morning we got ready early, hopped in the car and made all of the stops I needed to make me feel better.  We weren't planning on making a cake because of time and energy and we tried to go to several grocery stores to buy one but apparently that's not as easy as it sounds!  Most of the city stores don't have a bakery and when we did find cakes they were vanilla and Noah wanted chocolate.  We just ended up going with vanilla and there were no complaints.   Paul cut some card stock and got out some embroidery thread and made a trampoline as a cake topper.  Seriously, this guy amazes me every single day.  

We gathered all the kids at the trampoline park and they got to bounce in three different areas.  The first one was about 30 mini trampolines hooked together.  The kids could bounce between them and bounce on the walls of this area.  The second area was similar but smaller and was staffed by someone from the park who organized and carried out dodge ball games on the trampolines.  The third area was a series of trampolines lined up that led to a giant pit filled with foam bricks. 

Paul and another dad also bounced with the kids and Paul and Noah were both doing complete flips into the foam pit.  

We gathered for pizza and to sing happy birthday and everyone was on their way.  It was an easy and simple party for which I was very grateful.  

When we got home Noah played with his friends for a while and we let him unwind.  As I expected I was so exhausted from the day and so I went in to bed right after dinner.  Paul got to work decorating the house so that when Noah woke up on his actual birthday it would be fun.  He filled his bed with balloons and made a streamer maze so it was nearly impossible for him to get out of his room.  He wrapped and hid all of the presents, hung up banners and made it just how I would have wanted it to be.  Paul and Maeve got up and made Noah a special breakfast and then we headed to church.  It was our 4th Sunday which means that the church focuses on mission projects.  We've been collecting coins for the Ben Towne foundation which is a childhood cancer research foundation here in Seattle.  The kids got hot chocolate from the coffee bar and then started rolling coins.  It was funny to me because they have never done this before and it is kind of an old thing I remember from being a child.... long before coin star.  The church sang Happy Birthday to Noah and he worked really hard.

I was so proud of him for his willingness to serve and to help.  He didn't have a single moment of complaint and hew as so happy to help.

When we got home from church we watched some videos about the foundation and the kids had questions about how the money we collected and rolled helps other kids.

This video showed the kids how their coins are beefing up those fighter guys.

It's all pretty overwhelming and wonderful at the same time.  Our friend in PA lost her daughter to nueuroblastoma and to think that my kids and my church are doing something in Seattle to stop this is  so moving for me.

After all of this we had some lunch and started to open presents.  Of course Noah has absolutely everything he could ever want and so it wasn't easy to come up with gift ideas!  He also never asks for anything and overtime we asked him what he would like for his birthday he couldn't think of anything.  There is one lego set that he has been saving up for for months and so he got contributions toward that from family which he was very excited about.  

We got him a head lamp for camping and a tree hammock that he can put up anywhere and folds into the size of a small chip bag

We also got him something called a slack line.  We saw this camping last year and really wanted to get one for the kids.  Basically it's two wide strips of very strong canvas and a mechanism to connect them to any tree or pole.  The goal is to walk from one side to the other either holding on to the top rope for balance or not holding on at all.  We thought this was the perfect gift for our climbing monkey.  He had a blast and all of the kids in the neighborhood came over to give it a try.  

We had originally thought we would go for a picnic dinner but it was a little chilly and so we let Noah pick the dinner spot.  We ended up at the Melting Pot for fondue and the kids LOVED dipping their food into the cheese and chocolate!

It was really a great birthday weekend!