Someone Turned 7 Years Old...

Friday Claude and I left Sadieville early to go to Louisville. We enjoyed a session at the Louisville Temple. Then lunch at Cracker Barrel followed by a grocery run to Walmart for lunch supplies for Saturday. Then we reached our final destination...the Marx home.

Bailey was very happy to see Pa and Ma come into her home. We had just enough time to change into play clothes before heading to the bus stop to meet Hayden's bus. Hayden too was happy to see Pa and Ma.

Claude and I realized this visit that the Marx kids are getting older. I took turkey cookies to share and their friends joined them on the front lawn to eat a cookie. Then they were off to play. They shared their roller skates with Addie, a friend from down their street.

Soon Hayden was at a friends home playing. That is how you can tell they are getting older. Used to be they stayed very close and only wanted the two of us to play with. Now they are off and running with friends. It is fun to watch these changes as they get older.

Bailey did enjoy some time with her Pa. These two have a fun little bond. She called him her tree. Looks to me like Claude makes a good tree.

Andie and Michael would get a date night while we watched the Mini's. That entailed Hayden and me watching Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire upstairs and Bailey and Claude watching Rio downstairs.  I earned this privilege by finishing the Goblet of Fire before this visit.

We figured the kids would be in bed and asleep before Michael and Andie returned.  That didn't quite happen. But it was funny trying to get it there.

Bailey's movied finished before Hayden's. Claude took Ritz crackers and the cheese you squeeze out of a can to share with the kids.  Hayden and Bailey enjoyed crackers and cheese while we finished Harry Potter.  Poor Bailey kept saying, "I don't want Harry Potter to die."  I kept telling her, "He is the lead character and there are at least  three more movies for him to be in. Harry is not going to die."  Quick little kid. She said, "Will he die in the last movie?"  Hmmmm...nope, I don't think so...however, I haven't read that book yet.

Now it was 8:30pm and the Mini's needed to be in bed. For some reason that initiated a major stall tactic that Ma and Pa could not resist.  I mean really, are they gonna fire us for being free baby sitters, I don't think so. 

Bailey broke into poem mode. She learned a poem at school about a turkey and favored us with it while I made a movie of it.

Then Hayden sang "The Monster Mash" will performing the actions as he learned them from YouTube.  Again, I made a movie.

Then we quickly got teeth brushed and headed to bed. Claude to dance with Bailey before turning out her lights. Me to be sure Hayden was tucked in. As I started to adjust the blinds so no light would come in when morning came I saw a car turning into the driveway. Michael and Andie were home and the kids were not asleep.

I turned to Hayden and told him his parents were in the driveway. He scurried down under his covers and I made sure hugs were given and lights were down. Then I raced to the door to the garage from the family room.

I was standing in that doorway grinning from ear to ear as Michael and Andie got out of their car. They saw me shutting the blinds. They thought it was Hayden. We had a good laugh. Andie tiptoed into Hayden's room to be sure he knew his routine for Saturday morning.

Saturday morning Hayden had his Edge class.  Andie and Michael had errands.  So Claude and Sandi had Bailey duty.  That always makes it about even. Or, at least one would think it would.

Bailey and I made a lot of puzzles. We kept looking for one without a piece missing. We did finally find one.

Andie is collecting stuffed animals for the school's carnival so her home if full of boxes and bags of stuffed animals for her to clean. Hayden and Bailey love stuffed animals. Bailey found a HUGE, by any standards, stuffed fish. She carried that fish around all Friday and Saturday. Saturday morning she found her little stuffed Nemo and played with it and the big fish. Then she found her Nemo costume and played with the big fish. She sat on it to watch Hayden and a friend play Wii. Claude and were not sure how Andie was going to get that big fish back into the stash of stuffed animals for the schools carnival.

I took the opportunity to get myself dressed and ready for the day while Bailey watched a Wildkratts show. Then I told her it was time for her to get ready for Hayden's birthday celebration. She was eager to do that. She quickly got dressed. Then I wanted to comb her hair. She insisted she wanted to have curlers and she wanted to wear them for a very long time. She told me where to get the curlers and stood still so I could curl her hair. She wore the curlers for the rest of the day. 

For Hayden's 7th birthday lunch, Claude found a recipe for 'Eyeball Pizzas'.  Hayden wanted pizza for his birthday lunch and he felt good about having these for his birthday lunch. (I'll post about the Eyeball Pizza in my next blog.)

After lunch Bailey brought in the cake and sherbet. Andie out did herself again. She made Yoda's out of lime sherbet and Chewbacca's out of chocolate cake and icing.

Hayden was a very happy camper. He loved his lunch and his cake and sherbet.

The party moved to the family room for Hayden to open presents. I have lots of pictures but one of my favorites is Hayden opening his gift from Bailey. They love pillow pets. Bailey had a big unicorn, a little unicorn and a baby unicorn you can clip to your belt loop or back pack. Hayden has given her at least one of these.

When it came time for Bailey to choose a gift to give Hayden, there was no question. He needed a little penquin pillow pet just like his big pillow pet. Bailey was right on target as you can tell by their faces.

Hayden would spend the afternoon working on each of the three Harry Potter Lego sets he got. He started with the smallest first (Dobby), then the Quidditch game and finally Hagrid's Hut. I was still reading directions and he was already snapping pieces together. He'll have hours of fun with those games.

Hayden and Bailey would wear some of their costumes including the Jedi Knight one Hayden got for his birthday. He even managed to put a Gryffindor robe over the Jedi Knight costume.

Then it was time to point the red Buick toward Sadieville. A good time was had by all. Hayden enjoyed celebrating his 7th birthday a day early so Pa and Ma could be there. We had fun watching the kids so Andie and Michael could enjoy a quiet dinner together. It was a win, win all the way around.

Happy Birthday, Hayden!!