Clay's 11th Birthday Party

Last night Clay invited 5 of his friends to spend the night and celebrate his 11th birthday. The guests arrived about 4:00PM, and they immediately went to play in the woods. Sam joined them, and they had a ball, running, hiking, and building various structures. Around 5:30, I rang the dinner bell, and I took their pictures as they approached the house.

Ryan and Clay

Ben K., Carson, and Ben B.

Sam and Parker

I instructed them to take off their boots, hose off, dry off, and wash their hands before entering the house. Then Leah and I served the men (Jimmy was home from work by this time, and Olivia and Julie spent the night with Ben B.'s sisters) spaghetti and bread.

The Hungry Crew

Clay wanted a rock themed party, so I covered the table with a brown tablecloth to look like dirt. I used silver, gold, and brown paper goods, and I scattered rocks from Clay's rock collection all over the table.

Yum! Yum!

After the boys finished their supper, I sent them all back outside while I cleaned the kitchen. Leah and Sam helped Jimmy do some outdoor work, and the boys played basketball, rode scooters, roller bladed, played in the sandbox, dug in the dirtpile, and played in the woods. Typical boy fun! They stayed outside until after dark, and then they all came in even dirtier than before, hungry for cake and ice cream! They washed off again and changed into their pajamas.

The Rock Cake

I did make this cake myself. It is a chocolate cake mix with homemade chocolate icing and chopped Reesee cups on the top. It is supposed to look like rocks in the dirt. I served this delicious chocolate with vanilla ice cream.

Happy Birthday Clay!

When the boys were through with their cake and ice cream (they ate almost the whole cake!), they played in the schoolroom and storage room in our basement. Clay had prepared the schoolroom for them to sleep in.....he moved the table and chairs to one side, and they covered the floor with sleeping bags, blankets, and pillows. I put Leah and Sam to bed (upstairs!), and then went to bed myself around 10:00. The boys were quiet, and I thought they were going to sleep!

Wrong! Clay later informed me that they slept from about 3:00AM to 5:00AM!! He said that they spent all of that time playing hide and seek! In two rooms!

I awoke at 6:30 this morning to our inside dog, Lilly, barking her head off in the garage (underneath my bedroom, but a mere 4 feet from where the boys were). I went down there, and found all 6 boys wide awake and playing. They said they didn't hear Lilly! I let her in....they had let her out earlier. Then I fortified myself with coffee and began preparing a breakfast of bacon and a mountain of pancakes. The boys played outside until I had breakfast ready....and came in dirty...again! After washing up, they wolfed down the pancakes and bacon, and began playing hide and seek all over the house. They played this for about an hour, until I sent them outside! There they played until their parents picked them up (about 9:30 AM).

Clay had a super time at his first ever sleepover party!