Connor turns 9

Connor turned 9 on May 27, and he really had a full weekend celebration!

On Friday was his friend party. He hasn't wanted a friend party the past couple of years, so I was thrilled that he wanted one this year. He has made huge social gains this year, which we are really pleased about. He had just enough boys over to make it fun, but not crazy. 9-year-old boys are busy, but nice, for the most part. It was a fun party.

He wanted an Angry Birds theme, and I wanted to keep it simple. Because really, what they wanted most, was free time to have fun and just be boys. I did two simple games, gave them free time outside (the weather was cool, cloudy and windy most of the day, but mercifully cleared up and warmed up just in time for the party), served a pizza dinner and, per Connor's chocoholic request, chocolate milk, chocolate cupcakes, and chocolate ice cream.

Connor wanted to play pin the beak on the Angry Bird, so Brian drew one and and made a beak for each boy; they were blindfolded and had to do their best without feeling around first.

Brian created a little game of launching water balloons at pigs, which were simply tennis balls with pig faces drawn on them. Brian made little holes where the balls sat, so they were actually more difficult to knock off than it might appear. Again, we were going for simple. The boys loved it. After we finished the game, I quickly filled up another set of water balloons and let them have a free for all.

After a lovely pizza dinner outside, we did presents-

And then we had cupcakes and ice cream. These Angry Bird cupcakes turned out so cute and were so easy to make! And silly me, I had printed some Angry Bird coloring pages "just in case." Um,  yeah, they were never touched. But a few boys humored me and took some home with them.

The boys took home a bag filled with Angry Birds goodies and other sweet treats. Connor was very pleased, which is what matters most.

On Saturday, Connor went on a limo ride! His best friend - named Conner - had his 9th birthday the week before my Connor - and friend Conner's grandmother game him and his family a limo ride, and invited my Connor along. The ride happened to be the night before my Connor's birthday, so it was a perfect birthday eve celebration! They rode all around town, past their school, and such. The reason Connor is in his PJs is because Conner's mom and I had a miscommunication and I thought we missed the ride and sent him to bed, when in reality they were running late and didn't have my number. I kept Connor up for a while - the ride was a surprise - and finally sent him to bed, only to have to get him up again when they showed up. Thus the ride in the PJs. He didn't care. He loved every minute of it. He described it as half-truck, half-bus, and half-restaurant. Fun experience.

Sunday was his birthday! He was so excited to turn 9. He chose most of the menu for the day - Cookie Crisp and homemade breakfast sandwiches for breakfast and Mel's skillet mac and cheese with ham and peas for dinner.

He got his gifts from us first thing in the morning. Connor FINALLY learned to ride his bike this spring - can I get a hallelujah?! - and also has really gotten more into fishing, so those interests provided the inspiration for his gifts. He got a bunch of gear for his bike (a bell - something he really wanted, a water bottle and carrying bag) and a bunch of fishing gear (his own tackle box filled with lures and bait and bobbers and all sorts of things). He LOVED it, and we loved moving away from giving toys. I get tired of buying toys, and I'm grateful that he was so pleased with his (big boy) gifts.

We let him try out his new fishing gear, and played a family game of T-ball that evening. It was a lovely conclusion to a wonderful birthday weekend.

We love Connor so very, very much. To watch him grow and mature and flourish is just... amazing. He is becoming such a responsible, independent, kind, loving boy. He loves Scouts and is excited to be a Bear now, as well as biking, fishing, hiking, swimming, camping, exploring, going on any sort of adventure, all things related to vehicles, playing games, building Legos, being with his siblings, and spending hours and hours and hours outdoors. Happy 9th birthday to our wonderful son!