Jacob went to a birthday party for Kaleb, who is the son of my old friend Angel.  She and I have been friends since 6th grade, which is approximately 28 years.  What. Anyway, we are thrilled that our boys are so close in age and friends as well!

Kaleb had his party at Putt Putt.  As you can see, it did not take long for this game to get goofy.

 And boring....

So we quickly switched over to other stuff, like bumper boats! Jacob clarified that he HAD to give Kaleb bunny ears since it was so close to Easter. Obviously.

Angel and I are SO GLAD that the birthday party has reached the stage where they just have a few close friends.  Don't get me wrong, the big party was fun at first, and it is bitter sweet that they are getting older, but you know...

This was the first time he rode by himself!! And he did this at the very end, right before we were about to leave.  It took him that long to get up the courage-I think he was more nervous about the not knowing what to do thing.  I was so happy for him.

 I realized just as the round was ending that I didn't talk with him about coming in...I was worried about how that was going to go down, but he handled it well!  You can see how hard he is concentrating on not messing up here.

Before he found the courage, he and Kaleb still wanted to ride, but only with mom :)   It's nice to still be needed.

I said, "I don't think you should be climbing that tree."  He said, "take my pic and I will get down."  Since he NEVER says that, I agreed.  I guess this is his "wild explorer" pose?

They will ALWAYS find a kill-people game.

 So Putt Putt has really stepped it up.  Besides expanding their game room, they have added laser tag, a bigger go kart track, and this really crazy cool rope/jungle/obstacle course in the sky.

 Do you see the people below??

In this bottom pic, Jacob is the one further in the background.

Jacob is in the black bumper boat, Kaleb in the blue and white. When you buy a $30 wristband, you get $7.50 in game money (you get a little credit card thing to swipe on the games), unlimited bumper boat rides and mini golf play, 10 minutes on that rope thing, and 4 go kart rides.  Angel had 2 BOGO coupons, so she got all 4 kids for $60 instead of $120.  So basically she just paid $60 for a bday party.  She made some homemade cupcakes and bought them all an Icee while we were there.  Another awesome thing about the diminishing party size.

Jacob's school goes from 9-4, which makes it virtually impossible to schedule appointments before or after.  So I scheduled his and my dentist appointments, his eye appointment, and the dogs' annual shots all on the same day and just kept him out.  We surprised Morgie Porgie at lunch.  Jessica is on a healthy kick and had packed her carrot sticks, cut up melon pieces, a dairy-free/gluton-free cookie, and roast beef.  She quickly shoved all that aside for the Chick Fil A  Aunt Shae brought.  P.S.  Abby also deals with a similar situation and gets really excited when I pack her lunch with a hot pocket, chips, some kind of fattening desert, and a gatorade instead of a water bottle.  #theperksofbeingthestepmom/aunt

This is later that day when we were taking the dogs to get their shots.  Maggie NEVER goes near Jacob normally.  Clearly the fear of the destination was worse that the fear of being near the crazy boy.

I closed one Saturday night and our Sunday opener is a girl who has worked for us for several years.  She used to work a weekday shift but has started back at college so she only works weekends now.  So basically I never see her.  I decided to leave her a note that night so she would see it the next morning :)

So clearly I am biased, but I seriously think the kids in my family have the best personalities.  We were all sitting on the couch watching tv.  Jacob managed to squirm his way into this position, because obviously a 9 year old boy does not just sit still for very long.  Then I hear him say, "hashtag, I am stuck."  Crack me up.

A video of Jacob doing the rope thing at Putt Putt:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghZSFoMywv8

And one of his amazing skills:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AZMp_9vLnA&list=UUlEiBflpzVOnuPlwMTh3iCQ