James had his school birthday party the Saturday before his actual birthday. I planned a nerf gun battle party at the park and they had a blast! Almost 30 kids showed up!! I think they were all ready to have some fun after the weird school year they've been having. I brought all of James's nerf guns and set up the area for playing capture the flag and freeze tag with the nerf guns.
I split them into teams and they first built their home base with spray-painted boxes I had been collecting all month. Then they decorated their team's flag, found a place to hide it, and got to work capturing the other team's flag.
Protecting the fort:
The flags:
Time for cupcakes! (And yes, I am wearing a whistle like a P.E. coach. It was a lot of kids to wrangle)
Rett's friend Ava invited him to a "special, peaceful" place to eat their cupcakes. Alex's girlfriend followed them to see where they were going and snapped this picture of them. So cute!
Presents!! James ended up with so many, there are still some he hasn't even played with yet.
For James's actual birthday day, he chose pulled pork sandwiches for dinner.
I ordered a small cake for grocery pickup and didn't realize exactly how small the cake was. No leftover cake this time!
Being silly:
Over the weekend we also took a trip to Canaveral seashore and found so many cool shells and pieces of sea glass. Sometimes we barely find anything, so it is always excited to find so much at one time.
The school garden is growing purple cauliflower. I know the kids will be excited to sample it!
The third-grade science teacher found a small ringneck snake and kept it around for her students for a few days. There is always some new creature in her class!
Rett's class borrowed our incubator so that they could hatch some chicken eggs. It was so much fun to watch! No matter how many times I see it, it is always just as cool as the first time.
I went for a walk on the beach in the morning by myself and it was so beautiful!
I found a butterfly by the waves, so I took it up to the dunes so it wouldn't drown.
James had a hike with the cub scouts and I had to document the fact that he is WEARING SNEAKERS! He hates it and complains when he has to wear them, but the fact that he has them on is a miracle.
Rett ready for a hike:
We took my brother fishing at the seashore and he accidentally caught a seagull when it flew right into his fishing line and got tangled up. Thankfully Anthony was able to untangle it and it flew away unharmed.
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Eating the small fish that we managed to catch:
I found these karate belt holders on amazon for the boys' old belts as they move up to the next color. I had been trying to figure out what to do with them for almost a year!
A friend of mine invited us to her parent's large property about an hour north of us to celebrate Valentine's day and ride dirt bikes and 4 wheelers. On the way there we had to stop and take a picture of this huge group of wild turkeys!
So many toys!!
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Using the helmets as valentine baskets:
The day before the party, the forestry service happened to do a controlled burn on their property. A few areas were still smoking!
Pinewood derby/Blue and Gold Celebration:
I got discount tickets to a local monster truck show. It wasn't very big and there were only a few monster trucks. It didn't matter to the boys, they were only there for the cotton candy.
