Happy Birthday Colby Joe!

Happy Birthday Colby!! Monday, February 19th is Colby's 4th birthday. I truly can't believe my little Joe is 4 years old. (A friend gave him the nickname many years ago of Colby Joe and for some reason it has stuck with me.) We had a great party Saturday afternoon with some of Colby's friends from his Circle of Friends class and, of course, Brooklyn and Kayla (our boy's favorite friends from birth so no party would be complete without them!). We also had Nana and Papa (my parents), Uncle Aric and Aunt Moni (Kendra's sister), Mr. Corey and Ms. Traci (our babysitter) and host of kids parents.

It was a baseball theme as that is what Colby wanted. The picture you see above with the gigantic glove (HA) was also on his invitation that in the form of a ticket to a baseball game. It turned out cute.

We welcomed everyone to Colby Joe Field (see the picture of the door sign) and started out with 2 events: shirt decorating and baseball fishing. Both events were alot of fun for the kids.

The shirt decorating was fun to let the kids use fabric paint and stamps to design their own shirts. It was originally intended to be a "jersey" to be worn if we could have played a game but that didn't work it. Instead, it ended up being a fun take-home gift for the kids. The baseball fishing was simply fishing poles with magnets on the ends that the kids would try to "catch" a ball out of the bucket that had either 1st, 2nd or 3rd base on it. There were even a few balls with "Homerun" on it and all had prizes.












Then it was onto "Musical Bases". Very similar to musical chairs but the kids walked around the bases (1st,2nd,3rd,home) to a kids version of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame". Each time we stopped the music, we'd draw a base name out of the hat and depending on which kid was standing on that particular base at the time, they would receive a prize. It was alot of fun, especially as the kids got the hang of it and filled up their prize boxes (popcorn boxes).













After that, we let the kids watch about 15-20 min. of the movie, "The Rookie". It was the only G-rated baseball movie that I liked and that I thought the adults would like too. The kids ate popcorn while we prepared the cake and ice cream.

Not sure if our cakes still rival those of my brothers (Randy and Gary) but I think we did a pretty good job. Kendra made the baseball and I was in charge of the baseball diamond. The dirt for the base paths was graham cracker crust so that worked out real good. It's always fun to make these cakes with Kendra.











After the ice cream and cake, we moved to the opening of the presents. This year, we opted to try something new in the spirit of servanthood and stewardship teaching. In lieu of asking kids to bring presents for Colby, we instead asked them to bring craft items that Colby would eventually personally deliver to the Director of the Royal Family Kids Camp that our church puts on every summer (and that Kendra and I have counseled at before). Colby got a lot of bandanas, cork tiles, tie-dye and other craft items that we had included on a suggested list with the invitation. I'm looking forward to getting with Colby and arranging the time for him to deliver these items to Darren and Melinda. I think that will be a memory-making moment for him and hopefully the start of something fun to do each birthday... GIVE instead of GETTING. Now, he did get a few gifts from family and a couple of friends but I was very proud of Colby in how he handled this. As Colby would say he's getting "bigger, and bigger, and bigger". Still can't believe he's 4 years old!!

It was fun also to have an old friend in my home. One of Colby's classmates at Circle of Friends is Cade. His mom just happens to be Marilyn (Williams) Webb who was a great friend of mine from college at ACU. I haven't spent alot of time with Marilyn and her husband David in many years so it was fun having her in my home to visit with. She also got to visit with my parents too who also remember her from the good ol ACU days. That's her in the blue sweatshirt at the shirt decorating table in case you were wondering.


After everyone left, we enjoyed watching Colby playing with a gift he got from his Nana and Papa. It was an auto-pitch baseball game that Colby was really having fun with. I think he'll truly enjoy this present as will Tyler. It was great having Nana and Papa around this weekend.












So, that was our party weekend. Of course, Monday is Colby's actual birthday so we get to celebrate it again which will be fun. He's requested a special dinner of "pasta with the little green things in them" (angel hair pasta with herb sauce). We sure love our little Joe so much and I'm blessed to be able to call him my son!! Love you Colby Joe!!

God bless you all,
SJ