He's halfway until 18!
Not. Ready. Yet.
We're kind of fond of this little boy and super proud of the little man he is becoming. As excited as he is about turning 9--even he agrees being 8 was super cool. He racked up at least 1000 hours of Minecraft play with his friends; rode his first upside down roller coaster; went on a hike to a waterfall; continued his obsessions with Lego's with at least a moderate level of passion; grew about 3 inches; started and completed the entire Harry Potter book series.
What better way to usher in year 9 then with a little magic borrowed from his favorite book series? With 12 of his closest friends (11 friends + 1 sister, who may or may not be considered a 'friend'), Jack had a blast at his birthday party this year. Considering we did potion experiments--I use the term 'blast' with great hesitation :)
First order of business--Daigon Alley to get all your wizard school supplies. What? You don't have any wizardry money? Good grief, muggle. No worries, Jack opened up his Gringott's vault and shared his Galleon with all. What's on the shopping list for a Harry Potter Birthday Party?
1. Owls. The kids made pets out of paper bags. Owls are like magical postman (meaning they get you the mail without running down your mailbox). Just kidding (we love you mr. postman...heh, heh). The kids really got into their owl bags--perhaps because we let them know they doubled as their favor bags. Super fun and cute!
2. Spell books. Flourish and Blotts had spell books ready for everyone with the most popular spells and a few curses, yikes!
3. Cauldrons.
4. Wands. Now everyone who has watched or read Harry Potter knows the 'wand chooses the wizard'; and so we blindfolded the wizards-to-be to match them with their perfect wand. Jack was thrilled with his cousin to the elder wand ;)
You may not think me pretty...
No matter aesthetics, the kids thought the sorting hat was the coolest thing ever! We sang the song (or rather read the poem) and then the hat did its magic. Dad hid a bluetooth device into the hat and stood off in the corner with his iPhone. He downloaded some recordings of the sorting hat--so when Jack and his friends placed the hat over their ears, Dad pressed a button and the hat came to life. Some of the kids really bought into the magic. Now the hat takes your wishes into consideration--but ultimately this thinking cap knows best. The houses:
Ravenclaw: Jack, Reid, Trey, Jackson
Hufflepuff: Owen, Colin, John
Gryffindor: Patrick, Carter, Jacob, Devin
Slytherin: Bronwyn (oh my!)
We donned our house badges and went off to our classes to start earning house points. Who will win the house cup? Ooh...the suspense.
School is in Session. A sample of Hogwarts classes awaited all of our potential first years.
1. Charms Class. Before casting spells we all had to get comfortable with our wands. We each had a minute to use wands (chopsticks) to get as many magical items (marshmallows and candy corn) out of a cauldron and into a cup. Points were awarded based on how many items landed in your cup. These kids were ready for some spells after this warm up act!
2. Wand Duels. Once the kids understood they would be dueling each other--they all ran back upstairs to find their spell books. They studied as hard as they do for a Friday Spelling Quiz and picked their favorite spells to wage against their opponent. Jack tried to obliviate his own mother's memory. John took control over Own and made him 'fart'. Oh boy. and Reid sent a flock of birds over to peck Devin's eyes out. Great fun. Great, great, fun.
3. Potions Class. Professor Snape was off finding some more Gillyweed--so Professor Mom stepped in to lead this class. Each student had a potions book to follow. We went over rules--stressing how important it is not to sample any of these ingredients as we certainly don't want to grow a rat's tail or anything crazy like that. The kids made Forgetfulness Potion (lava lamp) and used the leviosa charm to levitate balloons (the old baking soda and vinegar trick). Two other potions were in their book--Pollyjuice (green volcano made in the cauldron) and Felix Felicis (good luck potion which we could drop into tiny bottles made into necklaces). Kids loved this activity very much. Matter of fact, we kept Potions Class around for the entire weekend--Jack, Bronwyn and I continued to finish all the potions in the book and had a blast (literally as a few balloons full of vinegar and baking soda went blasting around our basement...oops!)
Quidditch Anyone? As if our neighbors didn't already think we were a bit crazy...now they certainly know we are. When else will you see 12 boys on broomsticks racing around a Field? Priceless, right? In their houses, we did 2 relay races. The ole' 'push a gourd with a broomstick' race (much harder than it looks!) and 'run as fast as you can with a broomstick between your knees without falling' race. Somewhere in there we were interrupted by Hagrid as he lost his magical creatures and they boys had to hunt them down--Ravenclaw won (as they were the only team that figured out reading the clues would help them find the creatures versus running around the yard searching wildly while screaming! HA!) Then, once the boys proved they could be trusted with 12 broomsticks on the Field at the same time--we broke out the balls and played Quidditch. WHAT. A. BLAST!
We calmed them down, by transitioning to Defense Against the Dark Arts...a.k.a. beat the dementor with a stick until it poops candy ;)
Inside to clean up. Looks like Chambers of Secrets took over the bathroom. Spooky.
FEAST in the Great Hall was the reward for everyone. Slytherin Hot dogs; Pumpkin Pasties; Hufflepuff Popcorn; Broomsticks; Owl Feed; Veggie Crudites; and Fruit Wands were just some of the tastes. The showstopper was Fortune Drinks and Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. Professor Trelawney left a fortune card on our plates--whatever color our drinks turned equated to our fortune. Jack's future is full of happiness. Whew. We played a game with the Flavor Beans. Each student picked the colored jelly bean the spinner landed on. They had a 50/50 chance of getting a delicious bean or something rather peculiar. Jack ate grass clippings; Jackson had fruity tooty; poor Reid had BARF! But the worse was Jacob's stinky socks--we all went hunting for the toothpaste Jelly Bean for him after we got a whiff of that. YIKES!
What better way to wash down the beans then with a few sweets. We made all the sweets ourselves except for the cake (thanks Whole Foods) and sent most home with the kids in their owl bags.
After everyone left, Jack looked at me with awe in his eyes and said, "Mom, that party wasn't very good." BOOOOO! "It was AWESOME!!!! Beyond AWESOME!!!" Well, easy to have an awesome party when you have such an awesome kid to inspire you.
Happy Birthday Jack.
Now just wait until you turn 11--and get your Hogwarts invitation for real ;) ;) ;)
