Golden Birthday

I learned a new term, "golden birthday".  Matthew turned 8 on the 8th.  He had been counting down the days for months.

On the morning of the 8th we awoke to lots of snow and no school.  Matthew was disappointed since he was looking forward to celebrating with his class and I had baked 30 cupcakes the night before.  Matthew's teacher, Mrs. Haan, lets the birthday child walk on the desks and this is such a privilege that Matthew didn't even want to miss this day of school.  The advantage of having the day off school was that I had time to make him waffles and he got to open his present from us - Star Wars Legos, of course!  We went out for lunch and then our friend, Lois, took the kids to see a movie.  Matthew's friend, Jared, spent the night.
 

Matthew opens his birthday present

On Saturday Matthew and Jared had a soccer game and then we hurried to Craig's Cruisers where we held Matthew's birthday party.  Since we haven't been in the States for Matthew's birthday before and we're not likely to in the near future, we agreed to his wish to have the party at an indoor game place.  Five friends from school joined him as well as two sets of grandparents, Aunt Kristen, and two cousins.  For three hours we ate pizza & cake, played laser tag, and enjoyed a slew of other games and activities.

Celebration at Craig's Cruisers

8 candles!

To top it off, Matthew spun their special birthday wheel and won the grand prize of 4 free buffets and 4 activities!  In the spring we'll go back again to enjoy a fun day all over again!

Matthew with his gifts