You're killin' me Smalls... JT's 8th birthday at the Sandlot

JT's favorite movie is The Sandlot. For his birthday, we decided to have a Sandlot Party at our house. It's been raining lately. Very wet, very muddy in our giant yard. I was so nervous that I'd have a bunch of kids that I needed to entertain with last minute inside games. Fortunately, the sun was shining on us for the morning and though there was a chill in the air, our pals didn't seem to notice.

We had baseball tees with the kids names on the back. They got to enjoy classic glass bottled cokes.

I was so glad to have awesome helpers. This is the first year that we've done a "drop off" party. Parents don't have to stay and hang out. They can go and enjoy 3 kid free hours! Thankfully, my pal Cakestina and my Mother-in-law stayed and helped with games, food, blowing up balloons and kid wrangling.

We were so glad to see Mr. B's brother Chris and our nephew E. We live in the same city but as things go with busy people, hardly get to spend time together. We were excited to show him our new home and JT was over the moon at having his big cousin over. They had the best time playing around!

We played a game where each kiddo had a balloon and we raced to see who could pop their balloon first.

Then we played a fun game of Blind Man's Bluff. Something I remember playing all the time when war were little.

                                                                               

We played a fun game of steal the bacon. It was hard core and I talked a lot of trash to my opponent (Mr. B)

I failed terribly, ALL THREE TIMES! our fun rivalry was fun for the kids though.

This is my valiant effort

It came time to do the piñata. Each of the kids took turns going from youngest to oldest. Without the blindfold you got three swings. With the blindfold, you got five.

JT took it easy his first at bat so that everyone could get a turn. We told him to go ahead and "let'er buck" and he sure did.

 JT's actual birthday morning, he awoke to special message balloons all over the house and we had funfetti pancakes for breakfast. Even our Elf on the Shelf, Blueberry Angus got in on the celebrating.

 It's been a privilege to be his parents. It's been a pleasure to watch him grow. We are so proud of him every day and so blessed that he is our son. Love you buddy.