Happy 11th Birthday, Hayden!

We interrupt our countries project to bring you Hayden's 11th Birthday, which was on Tuesday. 

Unfortunately, we've been passing a nasty bug around the house for weeks now (Why can't we all just get sick at the SAME time? It seems like the second one person wakes up feeling better, someone else wakes up feeling worse). So due to some nausea, the plan of 2infinity (the trampoline gym) was out. I tried to think of a nice sedentary activity, so I checked what movies were playing. We still hadn't seen the newest Disney movie, Moana, and it was still playing at Citrus Park (in recliner seats even!), so Hayden was happy with that. 

After the movie we came home for his treasure hunt. He doesn't just want to get presents, he wants to look for them. We've done some variation of this now for 4 or 5 years now, and I always wonder when he's not going to ask for it, but 11 was not the year.  I did have to make a totally new map for the new house. It was nice to have all new hiding spots too! 

Forgive my  pictures for being blurry, but the top plastic part of it keeps popping off, and while you can snap it back together, it's effecting the shutter speed, and I'm just ending up with blurry pictures. I'll get a new camera one of these days. 

Anyway, he made his way through the house finding and unwrapping his various presents. 

And shout out to Calib who picked up all the mess, as it was made. His OCD is helpful in some instances. 

Hayden set up all his toys, books, plushes, and such that he got for his birthday so I could take a picture. 

You can't really see it, but he got a new Pokemon comforter for his bed, which has been a big hit.  (So this is a picture from this morning with him and the blanket, which Ellie also enjoys). 

 

Besides the treasure hunt, Hayden also requests that we play 'hot lava' on his birthday. I mean, everyone knows how to play this right? The floor is hot lava, and if you touch it, you're out. We all make our home bases, and then there's some alliances made, and then eventually things turn ugly, and people end up mad. But, Hayden loves it, so we play it every year at his insistence. This year was interesting, because, again, in the new house, everyone had to find their new niches. I took the corner in the living room that has sat empty since the Christmas tree was gone. Fun fact: The chaise couch cushion fits almost perfectly there! 

Peyton and I had teamed up the last two years in a series of pillow pools, which we named 'Peaceful Pillow Pool Patagonia', because, well two countries in one, we like alliteration, and we try and remain peaceful as long as possible. 

We didn't have pillow pools this year, but we were still Peaceful Pillow Pool Patagonia, we built a dock with various boats, and those laundry baskets at the end of our dock were for a weapons check. 

Asa decided, in honor of Moana, he was going to be a Voyager, so he just made himself a duo of ships to travel in. (Although he spent most of his time in Peaceful Pillow Pool Patagonia.)

Calib-fornia was built at the far end of the realm. 

And Hanksylvania took over the Office. 

 Of course, you need to make sure you're set up with rations, ammunition, and something to keep you busy. 

Basically all but 4 of my pictures of the ensuing battles are a blurry mess. But, basically, it all ended after about 90 minutes, when Calib spear tackled me into the lava when I was TRYING to negotiate a peace treaty.  Don't worry, I'll remember that for next year. (I mean that so much, I set myself a google reminder for February 6th next year not to trust Calib-fornia, and to take him out as soon as the chance presents itself). 

After I was out, Calib and Asa took each other out simultaneously, and Hayden and Peyton were declared co-survivors / winners. 

For dinner, Hayden requested Asa's very good homemade nachos. 

And after some time playing with toys we had cake. Hayden is apparently pretty consistent on his birthday, as for probably the 11th year in a row he had chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. 

And my mom and grandma appeared on Facetime to sing Happy Birthday. 

I forgot to take a picture, so I had to call them back! (That's why there is some cake missing). 

Oh, and Cort and Garrett left a video message of 'Happy Birthday' for Hayden too. 

We spent the evening watching some TV and playing video games, and then Hayden requested a late-night taco bell trip, which we got in just before his birthday was over! He said it was the best birthday ever (to be fair, I don't think he remember's that many others), but I'll take it. And I did promise him whenever everyone is better, we will still go to 2infinity. 

Last year Hayden's birthday fell on Super Bowl Sunday, this year it was two days before. With Asa's Sunday schedule, we've not had anyone over the last two years, but the boys still expect the Snackadium, so of course I oblige. It's kind of fun to construct. This year wasn't my best work, but they don't really care too much about the design, they just love all the food in it. 

The night before I made the field (cake), and I thought the confetti was a fun addition. 

The sides had the usual fruits, veggies, chips, cookies and pretzles, 

And the end zones had PDQ chicken tenders, and a Publix sub platter. 

I should have taken a before and after picture, we pretty much cleared the stadium. It was lunch and dinner though, kind of like how we treat our football food during the regular season. 

We were all rooting for the Falcons, but I especially wanted them to win. Of course the Bucs are my team, but I also really like the Falcons (unless they're playing the Bucs), and the Vikings. I was excited to have a team to root for in the Super Bowl (besides just rooting for someone because of the kids preferences), but of course, we all know how that turned out. We're not talking about it, though. I'm not ready to deal. 

Even Delano got in on the Super Bowl food. I'm not sure how he ended up with this pretzel, but he grabbed it and tried to make a run for it. No worries, though, I caught him! 

In other news, we had our first Documentary Movie night, which we are hoping to make into a weekly event. We entice the kids with popcorn & candy, and they'll watch almost anything. 

In other Hayden news, he also finished the next Harry Potter book, so he was rewarded with another Harry Potter funko pop. 

This morning, Asa, Hayden and I made a trip out to our brand new Costco. It opened yesterday (and we missed the preview Tuesday, because of Hayden's birthday), but we didn't make it out, because I was feeling particularly bad. Anyway, we're super excited to have one 15 minutes from us now, instead of having to go all the way to Brandon or Clearwater! We don't have to take a cooler to shop there anymore, and it doesn't have to be big out and about trip, plus I'll always get cheaper gas, even without gas cards. It's all very exciting. 

Oh, and pizza, we can grab an easy lunch or dinner on the way home. We're pretty excited, and way more excited than we probably should be (we're so domesticated!) 

That's it from here, I've got three blogs done, only one more to go, Asa is working on Libya dinner as I type! 

Next Up: Besides finishing up our banned countries, assuming everyone is better, we're going to Disney Monday!