For Andrew's birthday party with friends we decided to check out the bowling alley in town- and it turned out to be so much fun and a great place to have a party! This year we decided to stick with a few new friends from Andrew's class and family. Our big present to Andrew is a trip to the Great Wolf Lodge with his cousins and so I couldn't go over the top with his party this year. It was so simple and fun!
The awesome cake was made by my mom's friend- a teacher she works with. I am so blessed I have found her to do my kids cakes, because she is the BEST! And has the biggest heart. She loves Andrew and has followed his story from day one and has always been a big supporter! (By the way I experimented with Photoshop on this picture and it's not my favorite but the background was horrible so I wanted to block it all out! Ha!)
We had to incorporate the evil minions somehow. Andrew first had told me he liked the yellow ones best so that was what I made his banner and most of the decorations with. Then the day before his party he said "Mom, we are having purple minion decorations, too, right???" Ha!
Luckily I had decided to incorporate them with the cake!
We rented a party room at the bowling alley and it was perfect! The kids all had a great time.
Little Miss was stylin in her minion shirt and sparkly hat and tutu! We had to dress up the minion shirt somehow!
Aren't they desipicable!? Ha!
Andrew got a lot of nice gifts- this year was a "Lego" movie year! Lots of books and stuff from the Lego movie. We haven't seen it yet but hope to soon!
Kerigan and her big cousin Evi!
Best buddies and cousins! I say this all the time but our kids are so blessed to have special cousins at similar ages to grow up with. Most of them live several hours away, but Evi and Jayden are close so we get to see them a lot, and Andrew and Jayden are just the best of friends!
A little girl and her Ga Ga
He wanted to hold up 7 fingers every time I took his picture this year!
I could almost tear up about the sweet little boys Andrew has become friends with in his class. All our adult family at the party commented on what nice, respectful boys they were. They were so polite and I am just so grateful that this move worked out so well for all of us. I was so worried about Andrew making new friends, and he is now surrounded by them. Bless their hearts for accepting him and including him in their friendships- he is obviously so happy.
Lining up for round 2!
This sweet girl loved bowling for the first time!
She even knocked some pins over (thank goodness for the bumpers!) Ha!
Luckily she had her daddy to help her... I love this look of anticipation to see how many pins will fall over!
My little man!
At this point, the little bowler was worn out. We found her "pouting" back in the party room, ha! So Ga Ga took her back home so we didn't get a picture of the birthday boy with Ga Ga and Papa or a family picture of all of us!
By this point Andrew's face says "stop taking pictures and let me go play!" Ha!
Andrew was so happy Grandpa and Grandma could make it to his party, too!
This family is so special to us! Thanks for coming Uncle Jay, Aunt Rachel and Evi & Jayden! It meant the world to Andrew to have you there- we just couldn't have the party without you guys (according to Andrew)!
All of Andrew's new buddies (minus a couple more we invited that couldn't make it) and his cousins! We also loved having our neighbor Jackson, who is also at Andrew's school in Kindergarten. He is such a sweet little boy too and we are so blessed to have him in the neighborhood. Andrew loved attending his birthday party last month!
We had to get a family picture back home since Kerigan had left the party a little early!
I'm not sure who caught on to the fact that Mama was a yellow minion and daddy was a purple "evil" minion- Ha! Andrew thought it was funny!
The bowling alley gave him this real pin (it's heavy!) for all his little friends to sign! He thought it was the best thing ever and has been hugging it ever since. What a special token from a perfect day!
Happy "Despicable" 7th birthday, Andrew!
We love you!
