Lucas Turned 7!

I'm not sure where January went, but I'm still catching up on December!!
  

We celebrated Lucas's 7th Birthday in Ohio this year. It falls just a few days before Christmas, so we've always been away for his actual birthday. After Nathaniel's birthday, however, Lucas declared that he wanted to be home for his birthday next year. I figured that was coming sooner or later, and really, who can blame him?

He did have a pretty fun day, though!

Lucas has been begging for a Chuck E. Cheese birthday and got it in his head that he was definitely going to have a party at Chuck E. Cheese this year. There's a Chuck E. Cheese in my in-law's town, so it was definitely doable. Of course, we felt bad that he wouldn't have any friends there with him, so we invited a neighbor that Lucas plays with whenever we're visiting Ohio. Unfortunately he couldn't join us. Lucas was a little bummed, but was okay with it.

We arrived in Ohio the night before his birthday, after one of our worst drives ever. So it was around 11pm before I started planning the party via my iPhone. I had figured we'd just go and buy some pizza and tokens. But, Abel insisted that Lucas was expecting the entire Chuck E. Cheese shebang. I was panicking for a little while, but it all worked out perfectly. (Can we hear it for the iPhone!?)

I discovered that you can book a birthday party for as few as four children! Plus, by booking on-line, you get extra bonus tokens. Of course we only had two children and the hostess was a little confused when we told her we were all there, but it was fantastic. Lucas got the full birthday party treatment -- blow up crown, attention from the Rat himself (oh, is he a mouse? Hmmmmm!) and--the be all end all--a minute in the ticket blaster! Plus, Abel and I happily gave the boys our birthday party tokens, so they both enjoyed a lot of games.

And, let me tell you, the Saturday before Christmas is the BEST time to visit. It was approximately 1/4 the madhouse that it usually is! Later that night we celebrated again with cup cakes. It was a really fun day!

Lucas continues to be the boy who wears his heart on his sleeve. It was such a joy to watch his excitement and pure delight that day at Chuck E. Cheese. We all bask in his warm emotions--this is the boy who still tells me that he loves me about 100 times each day. He exclaims it and whispers it. He wears all his other emotions on his sleeve as well. As Abel reminded me recently, when I was getting very frustrated with how vocal he is about getting upset: we can't expect to have one without the other. And I definitely don't want to ever give up Lucas's all-encompassing love. We are all so, so lucky to have him for our own.



Original post by Smiling Mama. Thanks for reading!