his party

so for his birthday, mikey requested a party at mulligan’s.  and he wanted to invite his homeschool crew.  we planned to have it on a friday afternoon hoping that the place would be pretty dead in the middle of the day.  and it worked out great.

finally time to get this party started!

we decided to make this an optional drop-off party and half of the moms took us up on it (hey, a homeschool mom’s gotta take advantage of these rare opportunities and i’m totally on board with that!).  so a BIG thanks to phil and the moms who did stay and help keep everyone together.  i absolutely could not have done this party without them.

in the midst of serving everyone food and trying to keep everyone together, i completely forgot to get a shot of mikey’s cake this year.  he asked for a camouflage cake with a tank, helicopter, and army guys on top.  guess his days of elmo and curious george cakes are long gone.  still so hard to believe he’s eight now!

gentlemen, start your engines.  mikey’s favorite.

it was great to have the whole place pretty much to ourselves.

 the kids had a blast going around and around with their buddies.

the little sister even got brave enough to drive one by herself, too.  she loved it.

you know who else loved it?  (hint: it wasn’t lauren).

but auntie heesun and little j sure did! loved their synchronized steering each time they drove by.

however, it wasn’t long before…

the competitive streak came out!

and yes, i looked like this for the entire ride.

then it was on to laser tag!

then mini golf!

and paddle boats!

seriously.  this place had it all.

and finally arcade games.  you know this game where the light goes round and round and you push the button to make the light stop in the spot right in front of you?  well, this is the one game that their daddy can always win.  and he always plays it whenever we are in an arcade so that his kiddos have enough tickets for each of them to get a prize.  cuz that’s the kind of daddy he is.

and this time was no exception.  though lauren wasn’t quite sure what all these tickets were for.

allie did, though.

a very full day at his favorite place with his favorite people.  a great way to celebrate my boy turning 8!