Leeland's 8th birthday!

The one who made us parents for the very first time turned 8 years old yesterday.  Someone kindly reminded me that we will likely be buying him a car in another 8 years.... YIKES!  How are we half way to driving already?  And where did the time go?

Last night we celebrated with family and as in all other years, the kiddo got to choose how he wanted the party.  He chose to go with an "Army" theme.  He loves anything Army and military lately including learning about war and military tactics in History and of course military toys like army men, GI Joes and tanks.  He was the primary reason that we took a field trip to the Airborne and Special Operations Museum back in February.  (Of course there was some hands on history learning too.)  .... And there are talks and plans in action to go on a field trip to the Tank Museum next.  

Here's the invitation that we sent out to our family purchased on Etsy from "nowanorris."

We used a picture from Halloween since he was an Army soldier for Halloween this past year.  

The kiddo also decorated his own cake this year and was quite proud of it!  I had plans to make a larger cake with some buttercream camouflage, but then one night as I was browsing "Pinterest" (of course), I ran across cakes with simple plastic Army men on them set up in battle.  I asked Leeland what his preference was, and he said he wanted to do the Army men and already had lots of ideas of exactly how he would set them up.  We had some cupcakes too just to make sure there was plenty for everyone. 

The decor was kept pretty simple.  I found camouflage plates and napkins at Hobby Lobby along with the flag table runner, mini flags, and pretend "dog tags."  The giant Army men came from the Dollar Tree along with the flag balloons. 

We set up a simple obstacle course in the backyard for the kids to run through and pretend like they were in bootcamp.  Of course I got absolutely no pictures of outside, because I just wasn't on the ball.... but they had to hop through "big tires" (foam rings), jump in a "minefield", (the trampoline), crawl under obstructions, do a "parachute drop" (the play set slide), and do some target practice with Nerf guns.  

The menu screamed "Merica" (haha!) with burgers, hot dogs, baked beans, and chips.  And we sent all of our guests home with some "camo cookies" as a thank you for coming to celebrate with us. 

So the biggest kid is 8!  Despite my best efforts and pleading that he just stay little, he keeps growing.  

Our Leeland makes us so proud!  He's smart, passionate, kind, and goofy.  His inquisitive spirit not only inspires me to keep growing and learning but also holds me accountable.  As the oldest of four, he is very responsible and takes his big brother role seriously.  He's such a blessing to our family, and we couldn't be more thankful for him. Thrilled to watch him grow.

HAPPY 8th BIRTHDAY LEELAND!