Before I dig into all things Harry Potter party, we started celebrating Cruz's 8th birthday a week early with a sleepover with some of his best buds. Something I wasn't prepared for as a mom was watching my kids in their friendships. And being that both Cruz and Mila are little extroverts so far, it's been so fun to watch them make friends, be good friends, and spend time as friends. This sleepover also made us realize our kids act differently around their friends. If we had a dollar for every time we heard Cruz call one of his friends "dude" or "bro" we could have paid off those birthday gifts! ;)
Here they are! I picked them all up from school and the noise level only increased from there! Lincoln, Kalven, Nicholas, and Josh.
I heard many people tell me I was brave or crazy the week leading up to the sleepover, but it all went pretty well. They bounced on the trampoline and played basketball after school and then we loaded up two cars and took them to Cadillac Lanes for some bowling and arcade games. They have a great new arcade and offered a party package of a free hour of unlimited games, followed by an hour of bowling, followed by pizza. It was a really good deal and the boys all had fun. Grandma and Papa Curt joined us, too, and Beau and Dad decided they might like a bowling/arcade party for their birthdays, too!
I couldn't help but compare and contrast these boys with the boy I know so well. For starters, I couldn't believe how much they ate compared to Cruz! Lincoln and Kalven put down a pizza just the two of them, and they made me nervous with how much red Hawaiian Punch they could drink! I realized I should probably turn off Kids Bop Radio when it seemed most of the boys knew the real versions of the songs instead of the Kids Bop versions. I've been super hesitant to grant Beau's wish of starting the Marvel movies with Cruz, but found out every boy at our sleepover had seen at least a few of them. And we drew the conclusion that out of all five boys, our boy was definitely the loudest!
But most of all, I loved how sweet these all were with each other. I noticed things about each of them - Kalven shared his candy with a pouty Mila, Lincoln said please and thank you for everything, Josh has the best dry sense of humor, and Nicholas brought his book order everywhere. They laughed a lot, were excited about everything, and were genuinely filled with so much joy getting the opportunity to celebrate their friend, Cruz. There's nothing sweeter than that childlike innocence, but I pray some of these same sweet, silly, and endearing characteristics stand the test of time as Cruz grows. In fact, late Friday night, as the boys were eating cake and drinking too many juice boxes, they were in hysterics about the silliest of things and Beau and I just looked at each other and smiled. "A little glimpse into the future of Cruz and his buds," Beau professed.
And firecracker, Mila, right in the middle of it all. That might cause us some headaches one day... ;)
And then there was the day Cruz turned 8. He had started reminding us just how much he loved surprise birthday balloons in his room (and how much we forgot to do this for him last year...), followed by birthday pancakes before school. Grandma and I surprised him at Aldrich for a special birthday lunch in the commons area, and he skipped recess to take us on a little tour of his new school. Then it was back a few hours later to pick him back up and take him home for presents, Pizza Ranch, and a quiet night at home. We surprised him with an XBox, stopped at Game Stop so he could pick out his very first game, and then had dinner at Pizza Ranch, per his request. It was a night fit for a Cruz, indeed.
And the party was just getting started... :)
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