Z's Seventh Birthday

Z had been planning his birthday for months. Originally he wanted a dragon cake like J's, then he wanted a pirate ship cake, and he finally settled on the castle cake. He wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch and have Cheeseburger Soup for dinner.

We celebrated on Sunday so we could celebrate with Grandma & Grandpa L and Aunt Sh (Sunday was the last day of their visit). I baked the cake Saturday morning and then stayed home from church Sunday morning to decorate it. It was a cool, rainy day and I added to much milk to the icing, and it was thinner and heavier than I had planned (normally I make cakes on dry days, since most days, especially mornings, are dry). My first plan to quickly decorate the cake with "stars" didn't work--the stars were droopy and so heavy the turrets started sinking into the cake and tipping. So I went with plan B, and spread the icing on (I'm really bad at spreading icing on, but thankfully I was able to leave it rough looking, since it was supposed to be castle walls) and used a toothpick to make mortar lines. Z was thrilled when he returned home from church.

We headed to Chuck E Cheese with the hope that we'd be able to get home in time to see some of the Packers. If you guys are forced to go this establishment, I recommend taking 1 adult per child. It goes a lot more quickly when all children are able to play their tokens simultaneously. We were in and out of there in under 2 hours, and were able to make it home to see the 2nd half of the Packers game. Z, being the good son that he is, has developed into a loyal Packers fan. He says when he sees them he just gets this feeling he can't describe (and no, all you doubters out there, I don't think it's the feeling that he's about to vomit). L, on the other hand, has decided he likes the Broncos. Of all the teams he could pick, he had to pick the team that beat us in the SuperBowl? Hopefully it's just some sort of rebellious phase. Anyway, the point of this is that we watched the last half of the Packers game (and they won), and it wasn't complete parental neglect of the birthday boy because he's a fan, too.

After the game Z opened presents. He was thrilled. He received a Lego kit, Imaginext dinosaur, Power Ranger sword, and a green scooter. He also received a green football that L picked out for him. And a green bike. Does anyone care to guess what Z's favorite color is?

After some time out front we had dinner. It was "Scrumptious" and "Delicious" according to Z. Then we ate the castle cake.

All in all it was a great day. Z was happy, but claims he feels the same as when he was 6.