A Knight's Tale

Yesterday we had the birthday party for my son's 8th birthday. Only 4 out of the 8 invited kids could make it but they still had a lot of fun. And it still sounded as if there were at least 10 kids in the house!

The very morning of the party I came up with a last minute game. Maybe I was inspired because it just kept raining...?

I drew a castle wall consisting out of 63 numbered stones (inspiration: Game of the Goose) and combined it with an existing game we had. The players could earn gold coins on the way and at the end of the trail they had to face the two-headed dragon. There was actually a small two-headed dragon included in the existing game, so that part was easy. There were also four cards with either a sleeping dragon or one that was awake. The kids had to pick two (one for each head) and then had to turn them right side up. If the two heads were asleep the kids could pass without handing over any coins (so if a kid hadn't earned any coins but was lucky at this stage he could actually win the game). If the two heads were awake, the kids had to hand over two coins.

After having some delicious waffles (with the kids putting on way too much sugar of course) they were ready for some shield decorating. My son really turned his shield into a work of art.

Afterwards the Lego Knights went at war with the Playmobil dinosaurs (not sure if this was due to the sugar rush or the boys-will-be-boys factor) till the parents arrived.

No matter how much fun these parties are for the kids, we're always glad when it's five o'clock and we managed to get through the whole thing without any accidents or major fights.

So here's a last shot of My Knight in Shining Armour:

And my daughter? She did feel a little left out at the beginning of the party since she was the only girl, but I did find her a little later happily sketching away. Hearts and princesses, so very different from the boys.

His actual birthday is tomorrow.

Is it really 8 years ago that I was pregnant?

On this very day 8 years ago:

• I was still wondering whether you would be a boy or a girl. I thought you'd be a boy.
• I didn't know you'd look so much like your daddy
• I didn't know that in 8 years time kisses in public would become less frequent
• I didn't know that you would be interested in so many things, animals in particular
• I didn't know that you would love reading comic books
• I didn't know that you would do so well in school
• I didn't know that you would be stubborn at times
• I didn't know that you'd play soccer
• I didn't know that my heart would melt when you would call me the sweetest mom on the whole world

But I knew what your name would be and that I would love you to the moon and back.

We are so proud of you and we love you so so much. Happy birthday Robin.

Lots of hugs and kisses from all of us.