Nine Years Old!

Josh turned 9 yesterday and to celebrate we had an 'Army' slumber party with a few of his favorite friends. You can see the invitation in this post.

I got specially made dog tags with each of the boys' names on them. They were a big hit.


We had plenty of camouflage, face paint and tattoos to go around.


I decorated with an Amercian flag.


Carley even got decked out.


I surprised them with Army BDUs of my own. I made them call me Drill Sergeant Dean. (I don't really think it has Drill Sergeant patches but the boys don't know!)


Seeing as the party was 'basic training' and I was the Drill Sergeant we ran an obstacle course and PT.








I got the kids to show off their 'guns' and tattoos. What an awesome crew.


Josh opted for ice cream sandwiches in place of cake.



The presents always draw a crowd.



After it got dark we played Sardines. If you haven't heard of it, it's like reverse hide-and-seek but in the dark. The person who is 'it' goes and hides somewhere in the dark house. Everyone else crawls around until they find that person. Then they sit in the hiding place until everyone crams in -like sardines. The last person to show up is the next person to be 'it'. We played for an hour.


It was late so the boys got into their sleeping bags. I turned on a movie and made popcorn.


Well, I figure I can't have an Army party without camoulfage pancakes.


Yummy. Breakfast time.

I was nervous that I wouldn't survive a night with four 8 and 9-year-olds. But I did. I actually had a lot of fun. I think the boys did too.