Ten!

Double digits. We now have a 10-year-old. Blaise was super stoked to be turning 10. I think he went to bed excited every night for about two weeks before his birthday. I mean, it’s pretty exciting. I remember turning 10. It was the age my parents started allowing sleep overs. So of course for my birthday that year, I had a slumber party. It was also the age my parents set for getting our ears pierced. The day after my slumber party, I went and had my ears pierced. Blaise wanted neither a slumber party or his ears pierced, haha. Instead, he had a pandemic party. And by party, I mean his buddy and his sisters came over for the day. It was perfect.

Blaise’s birthday fell on a Wednesday this year. And since Laine has gymnastics practice Wednesday evenings, we had a family dinner the night before. The Tuesday dinner was lovely. Blaise requested pulled pork sandwiches and nachos. Not my cup of tea but it wasn’t my birthday. Brian’s mom came over and joined us for dinner and cupcakes—Blaise wanted cupcakes for Tuesday night and birthday cake on his actual birthday. After cupcakes, he opened Gram’s gift. Again, he wanted to wait until his actual birthday to open our gifts to him.

Pulled pork, nachos, and cupcakes. His birthday eve dinner.

This kid, he’s such a wonderful brother. Look at how he looks at Maive! So freaking sweet. She helped him open his present from Grams. Maive helps with everything these days.

Grams bought him the Three Musketeers, the book he wanted. That he proceeded to read in bed the next two nights.

On his actual birthday, his friend and his sisters came over around 10am to spend the day here. Blaise was on cloud nine. They gamed most of the morning until lunch. For lunch, Blaise requested Flying Pie Pizza. Brian made the drive to Issaquah to grab the pizzas. The kiddos ate a pizza lunch, followed by birthday cake and opening presents.

Pizza lunch!

Cake time.

My pathetic attempt at cake decorating. Blaise selected a pre-made cake from the grocery store and asked that I write on it with green.

Blaise is all about Navy warships these days. He’s become an encyclopedia, reading anything and everything about warships. He plays World of Warships, has taken a Naval Warship class online, and researches warships and battles online for more detail than he finds in books. For his birthday, he really wanted the USS Enterprise. He was thrilled when he opened it up.

Birthday present time, with Christmas wrapping paper.

I always love how kids cram around the birthday kid during present opening time. And I love how Blaise asked for Maive’s help opening one gift.

The afternoon included more gaming, starting to assemble to USS Enterprise, and even more gaming. It was the perfect pandemic birthday. Thanks to the smoke, Laine’s gymnastics practice was cancelled that night. We ended up having a quiet evening at home, just the seven of us. It was a great kick off to his tenth year.