Best Birthday Ever

We celebrated Luke's 7th birthday on Thursday.  So many fun and exciting things happened.  The day began early because on your birthday you can come out of your room before Morning 7.  Around 6:30 am, Luke came out and began building his birthday train.

The Birthday Boy with his Birthday Business:  A gift from Mommy and Daddy, the Birthday Train box, his Clean Water for Haiti jar, and a card from some neighbors.

After putting together his train, Luke next wanted to open the card from some neighbors.  This was Mommy's moment to cry.  He ripped open that card and when a $20 bill fell to the floor, Luke immediately got excited to put it in the jar.  They had indicated in the card what it was for, but he hadn't read that yet.  Luke has stopped assuming that money given to him is for him.  It's a sweet lesson that my son is teaching me.

He's so excited to put money in this jar.  I think we might always have a jar like this in our house.

Luke then opened a present from Mommy and Daddy.  Luke loves detective books.  We purchased him a detective handbook a few months back, and it was a BIG hit.  The next hour was spent closely examining as many pages as possible.

Focused on some serious detective business.

Shortly after all this fun, around 7:30 am, our first guests arrived.  Okay, I agreed to watch two of our birthday guests for the entire day because the rest of the family needed to be at the county fair all day. It worked out beautifully.  These two peeps, a ten year old boy and a seven year old girl, proceeded to keep Luke and Paul entertained while I managed last minute party preparations.  Lovely.

They also brought $41 of their own money for the jar.  How cool is that?

Although it was completely eclipsed by the awesomeness of the Clean Water for Haiti project, Luke's birthday party had a detective theme.  He had asked for that a few months ago before starting the jar and I just decided to do both!  No, they didn't really mesh together well, but not one party attendee seemed to mind.

So the first thing we did was read a Nate the Great book to the whole crew of 8 kids and 7 adults.  I had a reason for this.  I needed to fill some time and I needed the kids to understand why we were having pancakes for lunch.  In every book, Nate the Great eats pancakes in the middle of the case.  They help him think.  And they taste good.

After the book, the mystery began.  I lost the number 7 candle for the cake!  Oh no!  Never fear, each kid got a detective kit (white envelope with notepad, pen, flashlight, magnifying glass, etc.) and they were ready to solve the case!  I won't include all the details, but clues were found, the kids ended up walking all the way around our block on the hottest day of the year, pancakes were eaten, and the candle was found!

Detectives on the case!

Solving this mystery is hard work!  We need pancakes.

Putting the clues together on the floor after pancakes.  Look!  Each clue has one purple letter.  Maybe they spell something...O...V...E...N...OVEN!!

Grandma got the picture of Luke finding the candle in the oven.  I'll add it to the post when I get it from her.  Until then, just imagine adorableness.  :-)

After solving the mystery, we were able to put the candle on the cake and sing Happy Birthday.

I made that cake myself.  Those who know me understand what a HUGE deal that is.  I'm not crafty or bakey.  That's not a word.  Anyway...the Lord Jesus Christ had His hand all over this birthday, and He gave me the courage to try this.  He used my good friend Liza in big ways to accomplish this.  Thanks for the cake decorating tools, the recipe, the google search, AND the support, Liza!  Jesus used you to help me make Luke's cake extra special.

And now for the reason why I believe the Lord blessed this birthday party.  After the cake, we all headed to the living room.  Dave (Grandpa) shot video of what took place.  Thanks, Dave.  I wouldn't have thought to video this, but I'm so grateful we have it forever.  This was my favorite part of the day.

The final results of this epic day can be enjoyed here.