Joshua's 8th Birthday Party

The years just seem to move more quickly than ever. I guess its just my age. Joshua is turning 8-years old on Monday. I am stunned. It seems like only yesteday I was holding a baby in my arms. To bring matters closer to home, I am transferring our old VHS home movies to DVD and saw early videos of Josh. What a cute baby and toddler he was. One really cute thing on the tapes is from Christmas 2000. Everytime he opens a present he says quite loudly, "Oh Wow!" Too bad we all can't keep such wonder and amazement at the simplest things in life. Today, he is a great boy! Its hard to imagine, even though I lived through it, the transformation from that baby to the boy I see today. How time flies.


We had several of Joshua's friends over to celebrate his birthday. Most were from his Cub Scout den and/or his class at school. Of course there are the brothers and one of Jason's friend. From the top, left to right, they are:

Ben Mills, Jason Gibson, Joshua Gibson (Birthday Boy), Jonathan Gibson (the quiet one), David Tsuneki, Graham Seargent, Daniel Beal and Michael Thomas Walton.

Mom put together all the cool stuff: cake, cupcakes, party favors, decorations. Dad grilled burgers and hot dogs. Which means that mom did the most work but I had to stand out in the cold and rain! (I can hear the "So whats?"). The boys had dinner, sang "Happy Birthday", indulged on cupcakes (no ice cream), coke, and then opened presents.

For the next two hours, it was, shall we say, pretty busy around the house. What else can you expect with eight little boys confined to the four walls of our house because of the weather, loaded full of sugar, all trying to outdo the other in coolness, intensity and noise-levels.

Since the theme of the party was "All Things Army" there were more than just a few battles going on. There were snipers everywhere. I was picked off more than once. We left the dog outside in case it was decided he would make a good enemy or POW.

At some point in every husband's life, you see a look in your wife's eyes that is, shall we say, not quite normal. The look lives somwhere in the middle of many emotions: despair, stress, sadness and sheer terror. I witnessed just such a thing last night. It is hard for any woman to see eight boys (again, full of sugar) running through her house putting every "pretty" in the house at risk of being broken or completely demolished. Being in this situation leads to the state of mind just mentioned. Bless her heart, Karen prevailed over her natural instincts to throw eight boys out into the cold and rain, caring little for the safety of the dog who would have been taken hostage or something worse had this happened, and let the boys run through her house. These situations never affect dad's the same way because we see breakage as simply another reason to remodel that room, thereby doing even more damage, which in turn leads mom into the state of mind previously mentioned.

Thank goodness for our perpetual baby-sitter -- the DVD player. The only thing more fun to a bunch of 6, 7, 8 and 9-year old boys than running through a house reaking havoc on any innocent bystander that happens by is watching painful things happen to grownups in a movie, especially when that pain in inflicted by a kid. Karen had the wisdom to get Joshua Home Alone 1, 2 and 3 for one of his birthday presents. The boys had a wonderful time watching a kid "stick it" to a grownup. I must admit its fun to watch. A modern day Three Stooges, except there are only two.

Aroung 10PM, most of the boys went home but a couple stayed the night. This allowed them to view another Home Alone movie and drift off to sleep. I finally got to bed around 12:30AM.

All-in-all, it was a good party.