Owen's 9th Birthday - afternoon and evening

Owen's friend Preston's birthday is two days from now, but Preston's birthday party is this afternoon.  Owen was excited to go with Preston and two other friends to Mountasia for bumper cars and mini-golf.

Papa Ford came up in the afternoon and spent some quality time on the sofa rubbing Chloe's feet until Owen got back from Preston's party.

Then the two of them played baseball in the street.

And Chloe wore her helmet while she goofed around in the yard.

She knows she's cute.

When the Grandmas arrived, Owen took off running to give them hugs.

Owen invited three boys over for dinner and a sleepover to celebrate his birthday.

They are all silly boys.

This boy just loves to dance.  So when his birthday cake was brought out, naturally he had to stand up in his chair and shake his hips.

What does a newly turned 9 year old wish for, we wondered? 

We were told later in the evening. 

It was a simple wish, but not one I had guessed.

Papa Ford brought a cookie cake wishing O and C a happy birthday and TK a happy anniversary.  Thanks Papa Ford!

She turned off her hearing and giggled non-stop about this.

Owen was excited he got to open presents from the grandparents and Aunt Kiki after dinner and cake (although we made him wait until the next morning before opening presents from his friends).

Owen loves his Grandmas.  It is a common topic in our household how we wish ALL of the grandparents lived closer to us.

Since this was a birthday celebration with a sleepover party, we made an exception to the normal 8pm bedtime and headed up to our park after sunset.  The kids were FULL of energy and excited to be out in the dark.

This was also one of the first nights where I got to try out my new flash.  Um.  There's going to be a learning curve, here.

The kids thought it was uber-cool to play on the playground equipment.  In the dark.

The boys played a game named Sak that they created.  Which is basically to tackle each other to the ground.   It was near the time we were getting ready to walk home that Owen told us he got the wish he wished for when blowing out his candles.  It was that his little sister wouldn't bug him or his friends for the rest of his birthday.  Yay for granted wishes and little sisters who can take a break for a day!

They played so hard they were sweaty things and took off their shirts.  While walking home, they sang a song Lou taught them --> Baby Got Back.  Todd was amused.  I was in shock.   I was thankful they didn't know all the words and basically stuck to the chorus.

The boys were in bed by 10:30 and asleep shortly after 11pm.