Ryan's 7th Birthday

Today we celebrated Ryan's 7th birthday with an Angry Birds theme.  We had set up the entire party to take place outside in the backyard.  The weather was supposed to be beautiful and in the low 80's.  We were thrilled with this forecast.  Just after I snapped these photos, a dust storm kicked up and we had to move the party inside.  

Over the past couple of weeks, I have frequented Albertson's looking for solid colored balls in the Angry Birds colors so that I could paint them to look like pigs and birds.  Green balls were elusive until yesterday when I happened upon on an Albertson's with at least eight in the ball tub.  I was really excited about this.  

Phil ordered a water balloon launcher for the sling shot and attached it to two stakes in the ground.  

The kids had a blast making different towers to knock over.  When they got tired of launching birds at the towers, they "launched" themselves with the sling shot.  

We used the boys' Angry Birds game pieces to decorate the cake, along with some chocolate wafer cookies.  

My mom decorated different fish bowls with Angry Bird  faces and filled them with fruit of coordinating colors.  

My mom also made "Piggy Punch."

Grammy and the boys had fun launching birds at the piggies.  

We had pizza for dinner.  I decorated one of the pizzas to look like the Red Bird.  

Ryan said the presents were his favorite part, of course.  He was thrilled with all of his gifts.  

We had another great party.  I can't believe Ryan is seven already, but I enjoy this boy so very much and I love watching him grow into the person he will become.  

A Special Birthday Gift

Oh Jack, my wild and crazy boy. We've had a couple of rough days with a lot of blatant disobedience. Parenting has been intense. I told both of my boys that the one thing I wanted for my birthday was for them to obey me and to be kind to each other. They were really good about it for the morning. After I picked up Ryan from school, they started bickering. We got home and Jack was supposed to nap. He hasn't been napping much lately, despite needing it. He didn't nap again this evening and was cranky. Awana started out rough with Jack again with more disobedience. by the time we were driving home, I had had it with the boys.

 In the car, Jack started asking about God and heaven and if Jesus was alive in heaven. I told Jack that he was. Jack asked if Jesus would die again and I said no. I asked Jack if he believed in God and he said yes. I asked him if he believed in heaven and he said yes. I asked him if he believed that Jesus died on the cross for his sins and he was alive in heaven and he said yes. I then asked Jack if he would like to be part of God's family and have Jesus in his heart and again he said yes! I told him he could pray a prayer and become part of God's family. He was hesitant so I told him I could tell him the words to say. He then said he wanted to and he prayed along with me. It must be something about car rides with these kids, but that's where our best talks have happened. Even though Jack's behavior hasn't been great lately, this was the best gift he could have given to me.