Jude's 8th Birthday

We go into every child's birthday thinking, "Let's just have a small intimate day doing what this kid loves with JUST our family." And we inevitably end up hosting a party or spending too much un-budgeted money for bowling or whatever that kid decides they would love to do for their birthday. Jude's 8th birthday was no exception :). Initially Colin was going to take him on the Portland fire boat for a ride on the Willamette. Every boy's dream, right? That plan fell through last minute and Jude decided the week of his birthday he wanted to do a trip to Oaks Park with friends. I let him know that there was a decent chance no one would make it because it was so last minute. We ended up with our family and some boys from church and Jude said it was the best birthday EVER (well, excepting that trip to Legoland last year).

Here are Colin and Boss practicing their shot.  

Cousins Ella and Eden had fun on the slide.

These girls had so much fun together! It was a beautiful day and such a blessing to be enjoying Oregon's sun that had been hiding for 6 months.

Look at the glee on their faces!

Jude blowing out his candles.

This was right when Jude woke up on his birthday - I let him build the candy Legos that would decorate his cake.

Jude also insisted on blue hair that day.

Colin and I bought him "Night at the Museum 2" - you can tell he was very excited :)

My mom got Jude a set of fake teeth, which is right up Jude's alley. He loves all things weird and costume-y.

A rare photo of my mom and I. She never likes her photos posted, but I don't think she reads my blog, so it's all good.

Present opening.

Sis on the merry-go-round.

This was Jude's final cake. The kids decorated it. And Jude asked for a vanilla cake so I did double decker. It's never pretty, but was pretty tasty, I hear.

Jude wanted to eat at Vietnamese for lunch - all my kids always choose that for their lunch. He chose blueberry pancakes for breakfast and I made lasagna for dinner. I found out later he doesn't really like lasagna. Oops.

Family pic at Vietnamese.

Currently Jude is in 2nd grade. He loves Legos and spends the bulk of his time building with them. He and Boss play together all day because Jude is so good at imaginative play. He's great at math and just really caught on to reading for pleasure in the last couple of months. He still doesn't like to bathe or have his hair cut. He loves drinking milk and is the only member of our family that does. He focuses on details - definitely has a left handed brain :). He doesn't love hugs or affectionate touching. He loves bacon, doughnuts, chips, all things junk food.