The BIG 1 – 0

On Monday, March 15, we celebrated the 10th birthday of our second son, Grant.  (To read the short version of his birth story and about him, click here.) We have certain birthday traditions that we have followed for years but this year we decided to change it up a bit.  One, we are trying to simplify our lives.  And two, my husband was laid off and started a new job in October.  Due to the income change that came with that, we are on a much tighter budget.  Even with the changes to our tradition, we try to ensure that the birthday child is treated like the king or queen of the day. 

So here’s how we spent Grant’s first day in the double digits:

Everybody but the birthday boy woke up early and made signs for the birthday boy. 

They decorated the living room with no direction from mommy…  :0)

The birthday boy awoke to the sounds of “Happy Birthday” and breakfast in bed.  Ok, he was all ready awake but he pretended that we woke him up! 

Grant had planned the menu for the day. He even helped me cook if he felt like it.  Here is what we had:

Breakfast – doughnuts and bacon

Lunch – Tacos and Nachos

Dinner – Hamburgers and Baked Potatoes

Dessert – Texas Sheet Cake (Click for the recipe)

Very nutritious as you can see.  It’s all right -  it’s a birthday and sometimes rules need to go out the window!

He came into the living room when he was ready and of course he had to turn on the fan! 

He read the posters that everyone had lovingly made for him.  Grant also received the treat of being exempt from school today.  Well, we all were since we decided to take spring break.  He also had no chores to do.  He got to do whatever he wanted to do.  How often do you get to do that?

Baby Boy kept sing “Happy Birthday to you…”  See his little lips saying “you”?  It was too cute not to share.  :0)

For his birthday, Grant wanted a new bike.  He got to go on a special trip with Daddy to pick it out.  He spent most of the day outside playing and riding his new bike.

You may notice that his cake does not have the number 10 on it.  We could not find a zero in the stores that we frequent.  I happened to have some numbers so I put 1, 3, and 6 on his cake.  And no, he wasn’t 136 as his sister said.  :0)  Do you know why I put those numbers on? 

Grant had a wonderful day and we started new birthday traditions in our home!