Carter's 10th Birthday

Saturday May 2nd was Carter's 10th birthday!!! Planning for a birthday in these strange times during a pandemic was really difficult and very different.  Birthdays are a big deal around here and parties are a must but due to the stay at home orders we had to postpone Carter's friend birthday party to hopefully do in the summer.  Since usually birthday season consists of planning a big party and planing a fun day of doing what ever the birthday person wants to do and we didn't have that luxury this year so we had to get creative and do a birthday at home.  Small usual things like ordering pictures for the kids doors use to take a day to order took 2 weeks.  Thank goodness for amazon.com and target.com we were able to get all his gifts.  On my every other week grocery runs I was able to find some decorations.  I was so grateful that Raley's bakery was open so I could order him a special cake and actually get balloons with helium.  Aubrey and I had a blast setting up the night before and we could not wait to see his expression. I had told him due Covid-19 we couldn't do a lot of our usual Birthday surprises and I would do them in July (when this whole thing would hopefully be done) so his expectations were pretty low.  

He was thrilled to wake up on his Birthday and see that I was joking and that I did get him his pictures and that I could find streamers and balloons.  I loved that he was so happy and excited! 

He was over the moon.  We all were. It was such a great way to start the day and I think helped us all get out of the funk this whole pandemic was making us feel.  

Carter's smile makes me smile!

Carter's gift table looks empty because we had hid all his gifts all around the house and had him go on a scavenger hunt. He LOVED hunting for his gifts!

His gift table sure filled up!

Now it was time to open!!!!

This is simply the best.......

I think we officially surprised him!

He loves his motorized scooter and now we all want one!

After some scooter fun.  I got my mask on and ran down to Carter's favorite place...

Rollen Donuts for breakfast.

The lady that owns the shop knows Carter! We have been going for his birthday for like 10 years, haha.  Also when ever my parents would baby sit Carter he would talk them into taking him there for a snack.  When I went to get his donuts she was so exited and when I told her it was his Birthday she gave us his favorite donut holes for free! 

After breakfast he had some game time which he really wanted... 

Then before we knew it it was lunch time! One thing about this pandemic is we are always thinking about food! Carter's lunch request was you guessed it McDonald's!! We all went in the car to pick it up and bring it home for a picnic....

After our lunch we did table prizes....

and then played with all our new games....

That afternoon we want on a long scooter/walk on the bike trails....

and then we watched movies.  For dinner Carter decided on KFC! We were all pretty sick by the end of the day with all the junk food.  It was fun though since eating, watching movies, playing games and going on walks is all we can do right now we made it all happen!

Carter loved his surprise birthday cake.....

When it was time to sing and blow out the candles we had a zoom with all the family members so they could sing also with us.

Aubrey's surprise for Carter was that she learned how to play "Happy Birthday" on her trumpet so that was really cool for him.

It was an amazing day.  It felt so awesome getting our minds off what was going on in the world and really enjoying Carter.  He is simply the best and we feel so honored to be his parents.  Nana, Papa, titi and gaga really wanted to see Carter on his birthday weekend.  We also really wanted to see them.  We had not seen our family in person for over two whole months which is super long for all of us.  We decided since we had all been safe and pretty much quarantined to our homes if they came down from Sonora for a picnic we would all be fine.  So Sunday May 3rd was Carter's family birthday party.  The kids made their famous homemade lemonade.  

I set up an outside picnic area for us.

I sure love my birthday boy!!!!

Since we were trying to be careful we decided take-out food would be safer so we got Panera and Chipotle.  It was so fun to see the family pull up and see us.  It felt weird since we didn't hug and tried to stay apart at first. The media sure had us scared and the last thing I wanted to do was get my mom sick.

It felt awesome getting to see everyone in person. Aubrey was excited to share her scrap book project.

The kids love getting more table prizes....

Then it was time for Carter to open his birthday gifts....

Gaga sure knows that Carter loves vbucks for his games!

For his gift from Nana and Papa we had to go on a little walk to find it......

Carter was beyond trilled!!!! He was getting way to big for his current bike and to see a mountain bike he could not believe it!!!!

Titi gave Carter a super rad helmet that I love that he loves to wear it! It is always so hard to get him to wear a helmet so being that it's a very cool skull head he loves putting it on.

After gift opening the kids, Dad and Papa went on a great bike ride on our bike trails.  They had a blast and found some fun water creators in the ponds that they brought home.  the rest of us had fun hanging out and relaxing.

When they got home we did Carter's favorite rice krispie cake made by Titi....

Aubrey played the trumpet again for his song.

After all the birthday celebrations the family barber, Spencer went to work.....

Spence is so good at cutting hair we are so lucky to have him! Nana loved her fresh new look!

Papa said he wanted to go a little longer to see how long it would get.

After hair cuts we took some family pictures and as you can see the social distancing was out the window and we were hugging again. You can't social distance with family it's impossible! 

Saying good bye was sure hard but it was so nice to get to have that special day together.

We then had a family bike ride and watched the sun set on a perfect weekend.

Dear Carter,

Wow can you believe you are 10!!!! Double digits.  You will probably remember this birthday for a life time. Your Corona birthday!! What a champ you have been dealing with all this crazy stuff and not getting upset that you had your birthday through it all. You are really maturing and as much as it makes me so proud and happy I also get sad because my baby is growing up.  You bring me so much joy I don't even think you know how much happiness I feel when I just think about you.  You always cuddle me and care about everyone's feelings before your own.  You have loved home school.  You are definitely a home body but you are also a social guy when you need to be. Math and reading our your favorites and you excel amazingly in both.  You still don't eat much but can down 20 chicken nuggets like it's nothing.  I have noticed if it's something you like you are eating more.  Breakfast is your favorite meal.  Video games are your life right now.  With us being stuck at home I have probably been a little to lenient and have allowed a lot of game time.  I like it because you can talk to your friends so it is a good social outlet.  Even though you love the tech time you do love the outdoors and anytime I say lets go on a bike ride you are down. You are still doing boy scouts and we have fun checking stuff off the list for awards and being part of virtual meetings.  You and I are doing a book club right now with your teacher reading Refugee and it's been a great experience.  You love watching cartoons and playing with your Nerf guns.  You like building LEGOS but you don't play with them that much. You are such a fun guy and I love that I get to call you my son forever.   You melt my heart and make each day a better one.  Love you buddy!!!!