Stockton's 11th birthday

Stockton celebrated his 11th birthday on June 25, 2020.  He wanted an egg casserole and chocolate milk for breakfast and then a scavenger hunt to find his presents.  For his birthday, he got treats (cow tails, Lifesaver mints, and Reese's), a pocket knife, a video camera (he picked it out on Amazon-he aspires to make YouTube videos), and an air Jordan hat.

(This is a picture of me getting laughed at by Justin.  I was dressed and ready for they day, working on Stockton's breakfast and cake, and needing to go out to change water.  That explains the boots and the jacket-I didn't want to get soaking wet but Justin thought it was the funniest thing he had seen for a while-but I didn't see him going out to change water. 😉)

 

Stockton really wanted to go to a trampoline park for his birthday so we decided to finally use our Getout Pass that we got for Christmas.  We invited anyone in my family who wanted to go and met them there.  The Walker's and the Broadbent's were able to come and that made the day even better!  We had to be screened (temperature) before we entered.  The place was practically empty and we had a good two hours jumping around and doing the ninja course and the rock climbing area with cousins.  There was an intense dodgeball game right before we left-parents vs. kids.  A lot of kids got pretty mad at us.  It was a lot of fun!

Stockton, Grant, Molly, Tessa, Chloe, Justin, Ivy, Gavin, Brynn, Harper, Seth

Tessa and Molly

Molly tried to do this Leap of Faith but never got quite enough courage to jump out and grab the ring.

Stockton is not a lover of heights so he didn't go too far up on this.

Brynn and Harper

Chloe, Gavin, Harper, Ivy, Josie, Lucy, Brynn, Stockton, Grant, Molly, Tessa

He wanted meatballs for dinner, as has been the case for several years.  We also had veggies with ranch and watermelon.  He had baseball practice that night so I picked up a box of Creamies and took it for him to pass out at the end of practice.

 

He wanted an angel food/chocolate ice cream cake so I did my best to make something up.  I got a couple of angel food cakes at the store (didn't want to bother making them from scratch), cut them into cubes, then layered cake with chocolate ice cream and dolloped whipped cream on the top.  It was one of the easier birthday cakes I've had to do!  We sang to him, had cake, then headed to bed.

 

The day after his birthday, Gene and April came up to celebrate him.  They gave him a fitness tracker watch and a woodburning kit.

 

It was Stockton's year for a birthday party and, despite the COVID situation, we were able to have a successful party.  We sent invites out and figured if people weren't comfortable, they would stay home.  We had a great turn-out!  I think most people at this point were done with staying home.  We didn't go to a lot of trouble to plan games and just decided to do night games and a s'more bar.  Molly and Stockton did all the set up prior to the party.

The boys started with an epic game of capture the flag.  It lasted almost 90 minutes!  Justin and I just sat by the fire pit and watched.  I worried a little that it was getting too competitive and that I should interrupt it and start something else, but everyone seemed to be doing okay and no arguments were happening so we let it be.

 

Stockton did presents next.  He was spoiled rotten and ended up with a huge pile of gifts.  He got some popper balls, earbuds, legos, kanoodle, nerf guns, treats, corn hole, water guns, stikballs, a drone, baseball cards, a giant football, and hatchet.  People were so generous!

Ethan Pearson, Cooper Clark, Oliver D'Angelo, Chase Fauset, Joseph Ritchie, Payton Western,  Ethan's cousin, Easton Anderson, Sam Freeman, Stockton, Dylan Starks, Kelton Webb, Easton Andersen, Logan Cunningham, Brynn, Ivy, Corbin Anderson, Spencer Burr, Corbin Cunningham

 They went back to night games after that.  I'm not even sure what they played-this was the easiest party ever since I really didn't have to do anything except sit in my camp chair by the fire and watch the fun.  When it got dark, Justin got the fire going and I put all the stuff out for a s'more bar.  With Molly's help, we had thought of every possible thing the boys might want to put on a s'more.  They were so busy running around and playing that very few boys actually took the time to make a s'more.  They mostly ran over, grabbed a handful of treats, and ran back to the games.  A few of Justin's baseball boys stayed around the fire and messed around with him.  Parent's picked up at 10 and that was the end of the party.  Stockton had a great time.

 

One last celebration: we had my entire family up for a barbecue the next day, on Sunday.  My parents came a little early so they could give Stockton his presents.  They gave him clothes, a Star Wars game for his Nintendo, a slingshot, and a geode kit.  We had a fun time with my family that day and that brought the celebrating to an end.  Happy Birthday, bud!