This years James Birthday was celebrated from morning to night. It began with Mom and Dad dropping off cupcakes for James class so they could have a celebration there and continued when he got home.

James Birthday came at a time when his Aunt was in the hospital. We usually celebrate James birthday with his Aunt Peg since they fall on the same date but with Peg in the hospital it was not to be for this year. James went and visited Aunt Peg, but we decided not to exchange gifts with her till she got home.

We decorated the kitchen up with a couple helium balloons (not as easy to find helium these days, supposedly in a year or two there will not be any helium left on the planet except for the stockpile for blimps and such) and scattered his gifts all around. James received alot of cards from relatives and really did very well for himself with over a $100 in spending money (he is saving the money, which sort of surprised us, as soon as he spends it we will take pics and let everyone know what he bought with it).

After a brief birthday celebration at home we had to go to Hoover school for the Parents/Teachers meeting (which James enjoys as he gets to see some of his classmates after school hours which is always fun).

A very different birthday than the ones in the past, but still a special and fun day.

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Mom’s birthday came (as you know she is 29) and we decided to celebrate with a trip to Frankenmuth (our anniversary is also during this time and we ate at Frankenmuth on our Honeymoon so we thought we would do that as well).

However when we arrived we found out that there was a huge festival going on and we could not even park the car because of the large crowd. The parking was completely filled up and it took us 20 minutes just to drive out of the mainstreet area. There was also an auto show going on along with the festival so it was a very busy little town. We went to Bronners for a look at the latest Christmas decorations, then went to Spirit Halloween in Bridgeport for a look at the latest Halloween decorations (Mary had a coupon for 20% off and we used it to buy a microwave cling that we will use this Halloween). We ate at a restaurant on the way home and had a great time even though it was not the chicken dinner we were expecting to have when the day started.

On the way home we stopped at a couple shops, James picked out a few things as well so it was really quite the day!

Continue reading “Moms Birthday 2013” →

James went shopping early Monday to pick out a card for Adam, our neighbors son down the street. James attended a birthday party for Adam and everyone had a blast!

The event was held in Canton Michigan at the Pump It Up on Michigan Avenue. First all the kids got to play in a room filled with inflatables, then the party moved next door to a second room that was filled with different inflatables. Even Mom went down one of the slides (Dad was sweating out another ninth inning with the Tigers and declined to go down the slide). After about 40 minutes in the second room, the party slid over to a third room where the kids (and adults) enjoyed pizza, pasta, cake, ice cream, cookies, fruits, and all sorts of goodies. A great spread! James had a smile on his face the whole time and said he wants to have his birthday party at Pump It Up as well.

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Our annual visit to Nashville was one for the books as far as weather was concerned. As nice as it was last year in January, it was equally lousy this year with lots of rain and wet weather for early March. But we made it in time for Grandpa’s birthday (March 1) which we celebrated with a small cupcake party in his room the first day in Nashville.

Saturday was a road trip for Grandpa as a wheelchair van gave him a ride out to the cemetery. Again, the weather made things difficult and Grandpa actually slid out of his wheel chair in the van, but he did get to visit his parents graves which was the goal.

Other highlights of the trip include breakfast at Loveless Cafe, dinner with Uncle Bill at Bar B Cutie, Friday night pizza at the hotel, and a trip to Nashville’s most famous toy store.

Sunday morning we met Uncle Bill at Grandpa’s room and said our good byes. Hopefully we won’t be away for a year this time.

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James gets a surprise in a card from Uncle Ken and Aunt Criss

James was invited to Johnathans Birthday Party which was held at the Zap, sort of an inside carnival with huge inflatables, bumper car rides, laser tag, and plenty of games. James had a blast with his friends who he has not seen since school let out before Christmas.

James favorite game was the “Smelly Feet” game where you shoot a stream of water at smelly feet and if you do it right, the shower comes on at the end. You also receive tickets when you play the games that you can redeem for prizes at the end. 50 tickets get you a sucker. If you get hundreds of thousands of tickets you can get a Wii game so I am betting they hand out more suckers than Wii’s.

Continue reading “Johnathans Birthday Party 2012” →

James worked hard on Dads cake and placed a candle in the center. James is becoming a pretty good cook as he has had a cooking class at school. Things like spreading icing on a cake must have been taught there because he did a pretty good job with Dads cake.

Dad always complains that his birthday is so close to December that he does not get a fair shake on gifts and people would say “this is your birthday AND Christmas gift” when he was a child. Because of that most of Dads gifts are give November 1st which is the day after Halloween when Mom (and James if he is not in school that day) go out and get a bunch of Halloween stuff at discounted rates.

James visited “Pump It Up” after school and met up with some of his classmates at the Beech Daly/Northline location. Inside this facility are giant inflatables that the kids could play on constantly. James had a blast and ran from one giant inflatable to the next. Long sleeves and socks protected the kids from any “rug burns” on the rubber, a very good tip we received in the invitation which I am passing along for anyone who might want to visit this place. They also have a party area for food so you could have an entire birthday party here if you wanted to.

I realize the quality of the pictures is not the best, I believe it was a combination of a poor photographer (Dad), indoor lighting, and kids running constantly at break neck speeds.

Thanks to Stephen and his family for inviting us to this event, everything was paid for and each kid got a bag of goodies when they left.

Continue reading “Stevens Birthday at “Pump it Up” 2011″ →

James and Peg celebrated their Birthdays together for the 6th year in a row at Applebee’s (I think the first two were at Caesars but not sure). Richard joined us this year and picked up the tab. James got a bunch of cool toys, cash, and several Wii Point Cards (These allow him to shop for Wii games without actually using cash or credit cards). Peg gifts included mix and match separates to make 3 plus different outfits (Obviously I am still banned from buying Peg’s Birthday gifts).

Peg bought a couple balloons which you can see in the pictures, they ran about $12 each but were worth it. James got a Curious George balloon because when he leaves for school it is the only show on at that time. He has to record the shows to finish watching them since he has to leave in the middle.

James went home afterward and played with his new items, then we took him out shopping at Walmart and a Halloween store he wanted to visit. He did real well not spending anything which was ok because he could not find anything he really liked and decided to wait till he did.

Continue reading “James and Pegs Birthdays 2011” →