ELEVEN

It happens quickly, but honestly it is enjoyable each of these phases thus far.  And really the biggest recent change is Anthony no longer enjoys going with the flow.  He speaks some of his mind and desires now.  It caught me off guard as we neared his birthday.

What do you want for your birthday?
His only real requests were Black Ops 2 (p.s. I don't deal w/ electronics), gift cards and money. (p.s. 2 I nearly 100% refuse to buy/give gift cards and money to anyone.  I just HATE giving a gift that's value is so obvious.  My typical "go to" is setting a price limit and getting great deals so it appears I spent more than I did)  He did finally tell me he wanted a set of earbuds....yes just simple earbuds.

So I asked him many times what He wanted me to get him for his birthday and never got any ideas.  Most times he didn't even ask for the video game.  I (jokingly) told him, if you can't come up with anything, I'm not going to buy anything, so you better come up with something.

What do you want to do for your birthday?
All he wanted was to have his 2 typical friends over for a sleepover.  Nothing much different than his every weekend life.  I had offered ideas like Cici's Pizza w/ school friends too, the movies, snow flex.... and still he just wanted to stay home, play video games and watch netflix. Apparently he is fully satisfied with his normal day-to day life.

And so that's how it went.  We just invited his two friends Will and Alonza for a weekend sleepover. My first day off in three weeks was the Wednesday before his bday so I went and got supplies. Of course that evening he told me he would like a Steelers theme, so after work Thursday I went to Walmart to get yellow and black decor instead of the generic paper plates and such I already had.   I've been working some crazy hours so I set up some minor decorations on Thursday night.

Now my favorite laugh.  After I set this up, he noticed the three gifts I just put out and he takes a deep excited inhale and says "Is that for me?" of course I said yes and he said "You did get me a gift!!!"  He seriously thought he wasn't getting a gift because he hadn't come up with any ideas on what he wanted!

My awesome mom volunteered to make his brownies w/ the new pan I got so I wouldn't have to stay up super late.  THANKS SO MUCH mom!! I saw a swell idea circling facebook world shortly after Christmas and went with it.  In the comments of the post, I saw there was an actual pan I could buy and so I did, as I am well aware pinterest/fb ideas rarely work as easily as they appear.

After working 6-6 on Friday I went to Alonza's house and picked him up and then to Will's house to pick him up.  Mom and dad dropped the kids and brownies off at my house and met me there.  It really was simple!  The boys played video games.  I baked 3 pizzas.  They played more video games while I setup the ice cream bar.

The kids each made their brownie sundae

We certainly had to do candles a tad different w/ this type of cake, but we still managed :-)

We did some fun photos

our football team

mustaches

There were more video games but I was work bound for third shift 11pm-8:15am.  Then I went Hardees when I got off to get a birthday breakfast for everyone.  Unfortunately Alonza had to leave at 9, but we were so glad he came!!

Anthony's extra sweet tea and cinnamon raisin biscuits 

I think he was disappointed it was "just" money and not tea in his cup

Will enjoying his breakfast

The boys played at home most of the day.  I got in a few hour nap and a few hours of laziness.  I let Anthony choose anywhere he wanted for supper, I mean anywhere.  This boy picks.....

After eating his Chick Fil A we searched the mall for a wallet he decided he wanted.  At last we saw one and knew it was it!!

Then we headed to Grandma and Poppy's house as Grandma had a little something awaiting the boy as well.

Spoiled: he got a Kindle from Grandma and Poppy.  Then he wanted to go to Grandma Pam's.  Will decided he didn't want to visit anyone else and wanted to go home, so I took him home.  Then I took Anthony to visit Grandma Pam.

He was quite pleased to add this friend to his new wallet.  Since his sleepover buddy chose to leave, Anthony chose to go ahead and spend the night and get some Grandma Pam spoiling!

YES for a matter of fact Iam aware this kid was in the same clothes for over 48 hours.... but guess what, it's a weekend and more importantly it was his birthday so I couldn't care less since we weren't doing much of anything.  Grandma Pam even made Antman rice krispy treats and a cake.  Spoiled by everyone for sure! He seemed very satisfied with his weekend!