The 7th Birthday Party

As in years past and past, he planned this birthday party.  Is anyone surprised that it was army themed?  :)

Grandma Majors (aka Magaw) wrote a very cute invitation poem, that ended with:


To attend our soiree
You must do these three:
Wear your old clothes
Leave your presents at home
And tell a code word to me.


The Army uses this word
I'm sure you have heard
it used when a soldier gets dressed
JI loves this stuff, never has enough
And for clothes it's the very best!

So when the boys arrived, they met the drill sergeant (aka Hubby) who asked them for the code word.  And if they were prepared for danger.  The party would be potentially dangerous.

Caroline and Magaw were in charge of the name tags - or headbands - soon to be bandages.  But I'm getting a head (pun!) of myself.

Because ours was a dangerous party, the drill sergeant suggested to the moms to outline their sons in chalk.  For identification in the event of death or injury, of course.  Side note:  Hubby asked most of the boys, "Are you prepared to die?"  And most said, "Yes sir!"  But one said, "Um, no.  I don't want to die."  Hubby told him to be outlined anyway.  

The next station was for practicing handwriting.  Just kidding.  Sort of.  :)  The boys were asked to write a short note to a soldier.  It would be included in a rapid deployment kit (RDK) from The Military Ministry.  RDKs include a New Testament, Our Daily Bread devotional booklet, and Knowing God Personally booklet.

Then Major Majors (really- he retired as Major Majors!) applied camo face paint.  One boy said, "Mrs. Majors, I did not want face paint last year.  I do not want it this year, either."  It just made me chuckle. I wouldn't want it on my face either.

Once everyone had arrived, the boys were asked to line up on the fence.  Birthday Boy salutes the drill sergeant.

The drill sergeant gave instructions for the obstacle course.  Note the big-o-knife on his hip, for drama.  He walked them through the course, station by station, before letting them go through it one by one.

They marched to the trampoline where they would get 3 grenades (water balloons) to launch over the net and try to hit the brown trash can.

Then they were to crawl under the trampoline to the next station: Nerf gun shooting.

After firing down range they would turn to get a buddy (aka stuffed animal) to complete the course.  The boys were to protect their comrade in arms until the very end. But along the way, their friend would be wounded.  The red wheel barrow would aid in transporting the wounded soldier to the army hospital.

Once in the hospital, the soldiers would remove their headbands and doctor their comrade.  John Isaac had fully equipped the hospital with pills and fermented cod liver oil.

With bandages in tact, the boys would race their fallen soldier in an ambulance back to the starting point so the next soldier could begin.

 They really got into their parts as soldiers.

 Some more than others.

A good time was had by all.  Even the adults had a great time.  And we couldn't have done it without the adults!  Thank you to Grandpa and Magaw Majors, Alphonse M, and Justin B.

Magaw brought camo plastic cups for the party.  At this point the boys didn't care what the cups looked like.  They were so hot and thirsty they just wanted water!

 And I made cupcakes = easy peasy.  The birthday plates were leftover from the party in the park on Thursday.

 Caroline loved the extra attention.

It was a really fun party.  I loved that it was low stress.  Mr. Intensity and Hubby planned it all.  Plus it cost me next to nothing to host.

Go see what others are doing this weekend.  It works for me.