Brayden's Birthday Party

We thought it would be fun to have Brayden's birthday party in Utah while we were visiting. Brayden wanted an Army themed birthday party, and I have been putting together ideas for a few weeks now. We spent most of the day Friday getting ready for the party, buying all the decorations, and making the cake. Since it was an Army themed party and Brayden loves Army tanks that is went I went for. The only thing I knew for sure was it had to have a "shooter gun" on it. So I went to the internet to get some ideas. I had my sister-in-law Amy help me with the cake and between the two of us we put together a great cake.

Here is the final product.

The tank was so fun to make.

We were both so excited for Brayden to see it. While Amy put the finishing touches on the cake we took Brayden to have a special lunch at Chick-Fil-A. This is his favorite place to eat because he loves loves loves their chicken nuggets with honey mustard sauce. We don’t have any Chick-fil-A’s in Washington so we try to eat at one when we visit Utah or Boise. About the time we finished eating it was time for the party to start. I had dog tags for the kids to wear and Jared assigned them all ranks. The kids got hats and then camouflaged their faces if they wanted to. Brayden also had his Army shirt on of course. He wanted to wear his Army shoes, but it was too cold to have flip flops on. 

Marec is ready!

Sam is ready.

Reagan would rather play on the iPad.

Brayden was ready! (This is his serious face.)

Once all the kids were ready we headed outside for our Army boot camp. Jared was the drill sergeant and we played Drill Sergeant says, and minefield. I was Brayden’s partner and he was so worried he would step on a 'minefield' he walked on his tip toes most of the time; it was so cute. 

We also played a game where each team had to wrap a member of their team in crate paper and then carry them to the medic station. We wrapped Brayden, but our team didn’t win. After that we had an obstacle course and while you went through the course some of the adults were throwing incoming water balloon grenades. Of course, the obstacle course ended in a water balloon fight; which Brayden got in on the action, but only got himself wet in the process. 

After games we went inside and Brayden wanted to open presents first; since it is his party he gets to do what he wants. He got several nerf guns, a camouflaged blanket, and building block set, and a gift card. 

After presents we headed into the kitchen for the cake. He was pretty excited about the cake and he loved the shooter gun on the tank. 

Brayden adoring his Army cake.

We put a sparkler candle into the gun so it looked like it was shooting while we sang happy birthday. That made Brayden a little nervous, but loved it. 

He licked every bit of frosting off his cake and Reagan somehow managed to have two cupcakes. They were totally wired on sugar. Reagan had a great time and was just one of the kids trying to get in on all the action. 

Brayden got a lot of his energy out playing with his new guns downstairs. He had a great birthday and I hope he knows how much we love him. He is such a special boy, he can make so many people gravitate to him and his fun personality. After the party was over we had a little down time and then had dinner. It was nice to have everyone at the house for a while. Brayden had a great time playing with Adam’s girls and of course Chase, Rachael, and Maddie. It was a wonderful day.