Happy 9th Birthday Daniel

Our family celebrated 9 years of Daniel's life recently. We praised God, the Giver of Life for another of His precious gifts! As always on a birthday, one is struck by how fast time really does fly! My last born babe. My son. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

We celebrated as a family on the actual day, then on the weekend he had a party and invited 5 friends from Karate and 4 from soccer. Sarah also got to invite a friend, so all up we had 12 live wire children running around the backyard!

It was a great day. One of the party games, Capture the Flag, was an outstanding success. Each player chose an armband from a lucky dip, which separated everyone into 2 teams. Matching team flags were hoisted at opposite ends of the backyard, and each team had to protect their own flag - as well as try to capture the other team's flag. If you went into 'enemy territory' and got tipped before you grabbed the flag, you had to spend time 'in jail' (which was on the trampoline) until one of your teammates tagged you to set you free. Trying to capture the flag, not getting tipped, protecting your own flag, and rescuing any teammates in jail amounted to lots of energy being used, and lots of incredible fun!

I initially thought they would play for half an hour or so, but the 1st game lasted a good hour, then they all decided to mix up the teams and play again! I think there was 3 games played and even afterwards I had a couple of children come to me and ask, "Can we play Capture the Flag again?" Dodgeball with 2 balls was also played, and while it was enjoyed, it was nowhere near as favoured.

Party food was a heap of junk - lollies, chips, chocolate crackles; and I served mini hotdogs for something a bit more substantial. I regularly carried around a huge platter of fruit of which some was eaten, with watermelon being the most popular. Drinks went down at a good rate, which was natural considering all the running around that was happening. Oh, and mini quiches which were bought by one of the mum's - thanks D, they were delicious!

Children also played on the trampoline, climbed the treehouse (and trashed Sarah's flowers, oops!) and generally just ran around playing.



The cake was the worse one I have made. Honestly! Well, OK, it tasted great, but it didn't LOOK like the giant cupcake it was meant to be. I was decorating it at midnight on the night before the party and really wanted to throw it in the bin and buy a more pleasing one in the morning. As I carried it out to the party I was hearing, "What is it?" and saw and lots of quizzical expressions, LOL. Eventually we settled that it was an alien spaceship....not the plan, but hey - it doesn't really matter I kept repeating mentally!

Anyway, Daniel relished the whole day. He got some fantastic presents and enjoyed having his friends over to celebrate his birthday. His party lasted from 1-4pm, then I was having adult guests (and a few more children) over for a dinner BBQ at 5pm. The gap between was a hectic time, and if I plan it this way again, I'll just ask everyone if they want to hang around for lots more fun!