Happy Birthday to Chayton!

Yesterday, Chayton turned 8 years old. We've been celebrating all weekend.
That means lots of cupcakes. :-)

What did he ask for? Minions!

We invited a couple boys over to the house on Saturday for an afternoon party filled with Dr. Nefario's experiments. It was filled with fun and just a little bit of mess.

After reading Gru's rules (You will not cry or whine or laugh or giggle or sneeze or burp or fart. NO ANNOYING SOUNDS), we let them in.  First item - figure out how to use Dr. Nefario's Anti-Gravity Serum (aka bubbles).

Dr. Nefario also left us a Secret Exploding Experiment that needed Minions to test it: Diet Coke and Mentos! Even The Sisters got in on that one.

 

 Next, the Minions had to recreate El Macho's volcano. More exploding fun!

After all of that experimenting, a Minion is bound to get hungry. CUPCAKES! Chayton and Kaija did these all by themselves!

 

With proper amounts of sugar in their bodies, the Minions were able to take off on one final activity - a potato sack race.

That evening, Big Grandma came to the house for dinner and more CUPCAKES!

It is so wonderful to be able to share these moments with here. Once Big Grandma left, the girls headed over to their friend's house for a sleep-over. It was a Chayton - Mommy - Daddy Evening. His favorite kind!

Sunday started with our traditional Daddy & Child B'day Breakfast. Courtney got Chayton to pick Panera (over IHOP) by promising him not only a bagel, but a bagel, a breakfast sandwich and a special drink (HiC). Of course Chayton picked Panera! Courtney was happy. Chayton was happy. I got a coffee. I was happy.

After breakfast, we started with the family birthday presents. First up - an aquarium! Thank you Grandma & Grandpa. Now that we had a fish tank, we needed to start getting items to fill it. Off we went to get a couple of plants and some rocks. Next weekend, we'll be able to start adding fish. He has been asking, consistently, for a gold fish since this summer. He's so excited that he gets to have more than one fish!

B'day Boy's lunch request - Octopus and Seaweed. Yum.

Then how lucky is he - more presents. The girls gave him one big bag from the both of them filled with Minion items: a poster, socks and a stuffed Dave. I love how he stopped to read each card first, before looking at anything. Next up, a special gift from Nana and Papa - a Minion bed set! As you can see from his smile, he is very happy.

Chayton was a trooper while we were decorating the girls' bedroom. He was the first to help out with setting things up and picking things out.

Courtney and I have secretly been planning to give his room a little make-over, too. And with his birthday gifts - everything has come together.

The fish tank and the new bed set look great in his room. And finally, his fort is complete, too! We took the girls' bunk beds and turned them into a fort/reading & play room for Chayton. He loves it!

Happy Birthday to the best Minion out there!