Noah's 8th Birthday

All last week I was implementing various psychological warfare tactics on Noah.  We weren't going to celebrate his birthday, I didn't have time to get any presents for him, we forgot the day or didn't believe the current date.  He knew I was joking, but on some level he was afraid his birthday was going to be total crap.  It wasn't :)

He got his eggs and toast for breakfast and shortly after that we headed out to see "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days" (his choice).  Personally I think Greg Heffley is a jerk-weed.  He lies all the time and thinks he's better than everyone.  But, Noah loved the books and it wasn't my birthday.  Noah had a good time sitting in his own huge leather recliner with his own fanta to drink.

Noah chose wings for lunch and Buffalo Wild Wings was right across the street so away we went.  He got sweet barbecue :)

Being in a family requires compromise... grocery shopping might not be fun, but it's necessary.  Noah got to pick out what cake and ice cream he wanted while we were grabbing the rest of the groceries.  He chose the closest cake mix he could find to a brownie.  I remember Noah's birthdays past and he's had a brownie cake every single year (some tastes don't change).  He also requested strawberries on it.  Josh went all out and made him a 4 layer chocolate cake with chocolate fudge frosting between each layer and all around.  The boys wanted to illustrate the "bigness" with the big fish-mouth pictures.

Once the groceries were put away he got to open all his presents.  He was totally spoiled this year!  Rightly so.  Most of his gifts were video games so he and Tristan were on the wii a lot... and have been every day since.

He also got a bb gun from Grandpa & Grandma B.  He listened very closely about gun safety and was very patient while Daddy explained the basics.  He high-fived me when I told him I have shot weapons before and thrown live grenades during my Army time.

Noah said next birthday he wants Daddy and Mommy to be able to have some time together.  We told him that was very sweet, but we can save that for one of our birthdays.  Noah didn't whine or act entitled the entire day.  He said thank you to everyone for every tiny thing.  He was kind to his little brothers and took turns with his new toys.  All without asking.  He's such a great kid!