Buck and Belle: Happy (Hunting) Birthday!

In my head, I had kind of decided that we were going to "go somewhere" for Fawn's sixth birthday (Chuck-E-Cheese, bowling, movies...you get the drift). Last year we did a Transformers party at home. It was so much fun, and so Fawn...but it was a lot of work and very stressful to have so many people in our home. Plus with a January birthday I feel like we are so testing our weather luck. But, Fawn really wanted a hunting party at home. So, of course, that's what we did! I did try to dial it back a bit, and when the weather looked excellent for the actual day, I decided we were doing EVERYTHING in the garage, basement and outside. And, that really took the pressure off. Plus, hunting is popular (I guess the Duck Dynasty effect). So getting the goods was pretty easy (thank you Oriental Trading for all sorts of hunting decorations/paper products/favors and Publix for a duck hunting birthday cake). Whoop whoop. I think everyone that lives with me would agree that I was much more laid back this year about birthdays than I was last year, which was good for everyone!

We invited the boys in Fawn's kindergarten class plus three Covenant friends. It was a sweet, but pretty wild group. I was glad we asked the mamas to stay and kept the party to an hour and a half. As an aside, it's always easy when you live in a house of wild, crazy, loud boys to assume your boys are out of control and you have lost any ability to control them. Just get around another group of boys and your perspective will be set straight. My sweet boys, I am so proud of the boys you are growing up to be. You exhibit great amounts of respect and self control. You know how to have fun and live life, but you also are learning and exhibiting very admirable behavior traits that I know will serve you well in life.

We asked everyone to show up in camo; I had grabbed all of our extra camo from the farm in case boys showed up without it but was shocked when everyone showed up in their own! And we offered camo face paint upon arrival. My boys were all decked out.

Love these sweet brothers. And my heart swells when I see them love each other. Probably how God feels when he sees us loving on our brothers and sisters in Christ. Wow.

We started the party with a craft kids could do as they arrived...making nametags out of slices of wood on camo parachute cord. The boys were either really into them or couldn't care less. I just like to have something to do while waiting for everyone to arrive.

He loved his nametag...and loved that Mr. Lance and Miss Morrell helped him draw an armadillo. Can't believe how much this almost-three year old smile resembles his brother's at this age.

Then it was time for the activities. We started with an animal tracks scavenger hunt. I had painted rocks with animal tracks for deer, bear, bobcat, turkey, duck, and otter. We gave each kid a checklist that included the picture of the track, a crayon to mark off as they found the track, and a small drawstring bag to keep their rocks. It was a big hit! And, we are still finding rocks in our front yard. After the tracks activity, we did target practice in small groups. Mr. Lance manned the blow up deer and the foam bow; Buck armed the Nerf pistol and camo covered cans; Uncle Ben manned the tissue paper targets and Nerf crossbow; and Doc manned the bear and Air Warriors. I think the boys all had fun.

No good group shots. But Small Fry picked this of all times to look straight at the camera. Ha!

Then it was time for cake (plus goldfish and lime Jello jigglers).

The duck hunting cake was precious.

But not nearly as precious as Small Fry singing every word of Happy Birthday to his beloved big brother.

Such happiness celebrating such a great kid.

Hope your wish comes true buddy.

After cake, we did a photo scavenger hunt to the goody bags. It didn't work out as well as last year, though I'm not sure the kids realized it. Some of the boys just started grabbing pictures wherever they saw them so I was running around trying to keep the hunt moving like it should. The last picture was of Small Fry and the boys had to find Small Fry who had hidden with Buck with a bag full of goody bags. Then we just enjoyed some free play in the backyard and with the basketball goal to end the celebration. It was a fun afternoon. And most importantly, it made Fawn so very happy. It was exactly what he wanted for his birthday! Happy Birthday sweet boy -- we love you!