Ethan's 7th birthday

Ethan just celebrated his 7th birthday and he wanted to have a Nerf military party with a few friends. Mimi and Uncle CJ were able to come into town, too!  Of course, we used blue and orange Nerf colors for our theme and the kids snacked on cannon balls, grenades, berry bombs, battle chips, MRE's, camo cupcakes, and quenched their thirst at the hydration station. 

 The first thing our friends did when they arrived was to make dog tags. The kiddos got to "help" hammer the metal stamps on their blank dog tag.

Then we gathered Nerf gear for each guest and decked them out with a military helmet, safety glasses, their dog tags, an ammo belt, and they had a ball!

Team Orange went right and...

 Team Blue went left.

They were on a mission to weave through the camouflaged bunkers and tape to find their team's 4 flags hidden throughout the yard.

 

 Some took their job VERY seriously.... ;-)

 And even went  into stealth mode :-)

While parents stayed in the safe zone on the front porch. 

 There was quite a bit of action!

 And cheers when they found their flags!

 After getting really hot and sweaty, we made our way to the backyard to cool off with a swim.

And Ethan showed everyone his Zen pose

 In between a cannon ball and jump competition with the big kids.

 Then it was finally time to eat! The birthday boy requested Little Caesar's and fruit for his party meal. Mommy could not have been more thrilled with this low maintenance request! The pepperoni was shaped like a bull's-eye on the pizza :-)

Then the best part of all: CUPCAKES! Our camo cupcakes also had a bulls-eye on top made from a peach ring and yellow M&M.

 Happy Birthday Ethan!

After the official party festivities came to an end, the Dads decided to head back out front and battle the boys on their own Nerf war ;-)

 Then someone decided to turn the tables on me...not sure how that happened :-)

 We all had a great time and after the day came to an end and baths were had, Ethan finally got to open presents.

 But Mimi saved the best for the next morning! When he woke up on his actual birthday, Mimi wrote him the sweetest note and had the Rocket Fishing Rod waiting on him!

He has been asking for this fishing rod for months!

 Mimi was nice enough to get one for Caden, too!

Then we loaded up to eat a birthday breakfast at Waffle House and headed to the mall to watch The Secret Life of Pets with Uncle CJ and Mimi.

That afternoon we had friends come swim and eat dinner with us and then the kids went down to the newly "almost finished" theater room to sack out in sleeping bags and watch The Lego Movie. This boy had a full birthday weekend!