Birthday Interviews

We continued our tradition of interviewing Jaden and Cody for their birthday, asking them about some of their current interests and favorites. I enjoy hearing what they say each year. We sure love these boys immensely!

JADEN'S 7-YEAR-OLD INTERVIEW 

How old are you? 7

Who are your best friends? Colt, Hudson, and William

What is your favorite thing to do? playing sports, reading, playing the shooting game (an indoor basketball game he made up)

What is your favorite color? yellow

What is your favorite food? every dessert

What do you like to do with your family? go outside or go to Chuck E. Cheese

What's your favorite toy? my robot named Boxer

What do you want to be when you grow up? a scientist that studies the ocean

What makes you happy? sometimes playing with my sister, playing piano, and playing the shooting game

What makes you sad? when Adley hits me, and sometimes when Cody and I have an argument, and when I twist my hand when climbing up the stairs

What is your favorite book? the Ballpark Mysteries, especially #2 The Pinstripe Ghost

What is your favorite show? Walt Disney shows, Despicable Me, Incredibles, Lego Ninjago

What is your favorite movie? plain ol' Incredibles

Where do you like to go? the beach, Moody Gardens

What is your favorite treat? Baby Ruths and peppermints is also tied with it

What's something you think about before you fall asleep? if I have a baseball game, what I did and what the final score was

What is your favorite animal? Golden my dragon and Chocolate my fox

What is your favorite song? a tie between "Even Then" by Micah Tyler and "Drops in the Ocean" by Hawk Nelson

What is your favorite thing to wear? a baseball uniform or just comfy things and long socks

What are you afraid of? if Adley's about to bite me or hit me, or when I had my first piano recital

What is something you are good at? writing stories, sports, the champion at running in 1st grade

What is something you are not very good at? I still struggle with keeping my patience and when I make mistakes I get kind of mean

If you could change your name, what would you choose? Carlos or Hudson

What is your favorite restaurant? Panda Express

What do you like to do with Mommy? read a Dragon Slayers book or other book

What do you like to do with Daddy? toss a football, play baseball, or play basketball

CODY'S 7-YEAR-OLD INTERVIEW

How old are you? 7

Why is your hair all crazy? Crazy Hair Day for Wild Week

Who is your best friend? Ashlyn

What is your favorite thing to do? write books

What is your favorite color? black

What is your favorite food? cake

What is your least favorite food? gravy

What do you like to do with our family? play games like hide-and-seek or kickball

What is your favorite toy? Boxer

What do you want to do when you grow up? be a professional soccer player

What makes you happy? when I see cake

What makes you sad? when I see moldy cake

What is your favorite book? the Notebook of Doom

What is your favorite show? Lego Ninjago

What is your favorite movie? Home Alone

Where do you like to go? the beach

What is your favorite treat? cake

What is your favorite snack? graham crackers, peanut butter, and white chocolate chips

What is your favorite animal? penguin

What is your favorite song? Oceans

What is your favorite thing to wear? my FitBit

What are you afraid of? great white sharks eating me

What is something you are good at? soccer, four square, football, basketball, and baseball

What is something you are not very good at? waking up in the 7's

If you could change your name, what would you choose? Hudson

What is your favorite restaurant? McDonalds

What do you like to do with Mommy? read with Mommy

What do you like to do with Daddy? play baseball

What do you like to do with your friends? I like to play

What do you like about Children's Ministry? now I'm in 2nd grade

What is your favorite game? Sorry

What do you love about Jesus? that He died on the cross

Turning 7

Jaden and Cody's birthday weekend was definitely a full one! We were packed with baseball tournament games and birthday activities every evening. The boys' actual birthday was a Sunday, so they woke up early to play with some of their new birthday toys before church.

On the way to church, we stopped by a donut shop for a special treat.

That evening, the boys played in a baseball game, but we still served up some leftover birthday cake and sang happy birthday once we got home.

On Monday evening, our family (minus Jon and Chelsea's family who was out of town) came over for a birthday dinner. We had stir fry and baseball themed cupcakes.

The boys always love special time with their crazy cousins!

We adults love our family time too!

A Baseball Birthday

With all of the baseball that Cody and Jaden played this spring, it was no big surprise when the boys requested a baseball-themed party for their 7th birthday.

My mom and sister helped me decorate the cakes and prep some of the party supplies. It's sooo nice living close to family! 

I used a red, blue, and white color scheme and some great Pinterest ideas for the decorations.

To continue with our "birthday book" tradition, I ordered two Ballpark Mysteries chapter books that Jaden and Cody's friends could sign when they arrived at the party. The boys and I recently discovered this book series and really enjoy the stories. It was a perfect fit for their party theme!

I had showed Cody and Jaden a few baseball cake ideas from Pinterest, and these were the designs they chose. Both boys were really happy with their cakes. I was too!

Inside the treat bags, I included a MLB punching balloon and hacky sack, a Baby Ruth candy bar, a box of Cracker Jack, and a copy of the tabletop baseball game that we'd be playing at the party.

These boys could hardly wait for their friends to arrive on the big day!

We started the party with a little "filler" game activity, since we knew the guests would be arriving at different times. The kids could choose from three activities-- Tic Tac Toe, baseball edition (baseballs for the "O" and crossed bats for the "X");

a baseball word search;

and a baseball Mad Libs story.

When most of the guests had arrived, we went outside for a relay game. We divided the kids into two teams and placed various baseball attire (pants, belt, hat, cleats) at the opposite end of the yard.

One at a time, the kids raced to the clothing pile and picked out an item to put on.

Here are the teams at the end of the relay. The kids were a bit hot, but happy! :)

Then, I took half of the kids inside while Jason kept the other half outside for a few activities. Jason had several stations which practiced some baseball skills in a bit of a silly way. His first station involved pitching a ball to try to knock over a stack of cones.

Even Adley, and another younger sibling, had a chance to try this one!

  

Jason's second activity was base-running, but only after the kids had spun around the bat several times. Jason demonstrated this one and made himself quite dizzy!

Papa helped guide the kids so their dizziness wouldn't make them fall onto our rocks!

Jason's last outdoor station was catching practice... but as a team with a large blanket. The kids had a little learning curve with this game, but they worked together well.

  

The kids were REALLY warm after these outdoor stations, so we paused for a water break. You may notice that we gained a few more kids since the relay team photos!

Meanwhile, I led a few games for the kids inside. First, we played a silly version of one-on-one baseball. One child pitched a "ball" (balloon) to his opponent. The second player hit the balloon as hard as he could with his "bat" (pool noodle).

While the first player was retrieving the balloon, the batter had to do as many jumping jacks as she could before being tagged with the balloon. This active game got a lot of giggles!

  

Then, the kids hid Easter egg baseballs for one another upstairs. Surprisingly, several kids said this hide-and-seek game was their favorite activity of the party!

When both groups had completed the outdoor and indoor activities, we brought everyone inside for our last pre-dinner activity-- Tabletop baseball, a fun dice game that I found on Pinterest.

We LOVED having family helpers join us for the boys' party. Uncle Andrew and Uncle Matt took all of the wonderful pictures that you have just seen. Mom and Dad were amazing too-- helping entertain Adley the whole time, grilling hot dogs, and assembling our food platters for dinner. Have I mentioned how wonderful it is living close to family?! Mom and Dad even came dressed in their Cardinals baseball shirts in honor of our party theme.

After a dinner of hot dogs, baked beans, chips, fruit, and veggies, we sang to the birthday boys-- Jaden first this year!

Then our birthday boy, Cody!

Our final activity was playing a real game of baseball outside. Even though not all the kids are as into baseball as Jaden and Cody, everyone was a good sport about playing and seemed to have fun.

All in all, it was a great way to celebrate our baseball-loving 7-year-olds!