Yesterday was Cole's birthday.  He is now the big 7!  His festivities started on Sunday afternoon and pretty much went non-stop until Tuesday night.  The following is a run-down on his fun, along with some pictures . . .

Sunday afternoon, Cole's Nana and Papa (Josh's Parents) picked Cole up and took him birthday shopping.  He came home with a Nerf sword and a Nerf battle ax along with hand cuffs.  Just what a seven year old needs, right?  He said the hand cuffs were for Maisie.  Unfortunately for Cole, Maisie has it down to getting out of them in 8 seconds.   Next, Nana and Papa took Cole, Henry and Maisie out to lunch.  Fun!

At 4:30 Cole's two buddies, Ayden and Kellen, arrived to stay the night.  Cole had us call them before they came to tell them to bring their Nerf swords so they could battle at our house.  Much fun.  We gave Cole a birthday gift early that evening so that the boys would have a new video game to play when they weren't battling, eating pizza and strawberry shortcake or having Nerf gun wars.  Josh had picked out the PS3 game (as I am NOT into video games) so I didn't know much about it, but it turned out to be really cool.  It is called Little Big Planet.  Maisie was even playing -- and that is quite unusual.  I highly recommend that game if you are in the market for such things.

Monday the kids don't have school, so that is when we scheduled Cole's kid party.  I only work half-days from home on Mondays, so I was able to work in the early AM and late afternoon and still do the whole party.  The kids arrived at 10 and we loaded them in vehicles and headed to some trails that we like to walk/hike.  That was our big idea for Cole's party -- take the boys on a hike where they could be as wild and full of energy as they wanted.  We handed out foam swords to all of them upon arriving at the trails so they could run around whacking each other (that means fun for seven year old boys).  At the trails, my brothers met up with us and did the hike with us.  Very fun.  Maisie's friend, Rain, also came with us (she comes over every Monday) as well as cousin Luke.  It was a GREAT time.  I was worried, because when we woke up it was raining, but we went ahead and did it anyway, and I am glad we did.  Things like MUD do not bother these boys!

We were planning on doing cupcakes, gifts, etc at a park afterward, but because of the rain, we headed back to our house and did that stuff at home.  It was an overall great time.

Cole with his buddies at the table about to have cupcakes

Blowing out the candles and the pile of shoes at the front door after the muddy hike

Here are the boys posing for a photo after cupcakes (Cole is holding the battle ax from Nana and Papa)


Here are the rest of the hikers (minus me, the photographer, and Zack and Michael, who had to head to work)

Tuesday was Cole's actually birthday.  We woke him up with singing happy birthday, and he headed off to school.  At school they sang to him and he got to wear a crown.  When he got home from school, we let him open one gift immediately . . . the box he opened contained a clue that led him on a treasure hunt.  He followed the clues (about eight of them) around the house until he came to his big surprise -- a new bike!  We had wanted him to open it when there was still daylight (as opposed to after dinner with the other gifts).  He road his new bike until it was time to start him family party.

Treasure hunt photos in sequence:









We were planning on celebrating with just our immediate little family -- as I was concerned everyone was getting tired of all the birthday get-togethers (there are a lot in January), but my family wasn't having that!  My Mom and Dad, Deirdre and Eric, Zack and Michael all arrived for a fun dinner party.  Cole had requested Thai food, so before everyone arrived, we made a BIG order and Josh ran out to pick it up.  Cole showed off his new bike and we had Thai food and a traditional Roberson pistachio cake made by Josh.  There was lots of gift opening and an overall good time.

Here is Cole about to blow out the candles . . .

After the party, Cole decided to try on some of his new camo boxer briefs from Grandma along with the new Nerf accessory we gave him. . . it brings back memories of our little Captain Underpants!

                                               
Cole then had to go to bed (as it was a school night) . . . so he can look forward to many days of trying out his new gifts/toys/bike etc etc.  Today, when he got home from school he jumped right on his bike until we called him in for dinner.