TJ's Big 10th!

I can't believe I'm old enough to have a 10 year old kid. TJ is officially a decade old- wow. I took the tradition from my parents to grant a friend birthday party for even numbered birthdays. TJ wanted to have a Sports Party. We decided to do it out at my school since many of his buddies live out by there, and it has all the needed lawn space and basketball standards. I made each child some scorecards and we played little games/challenges. The kids did stuff like:

Short basketball game

Waterballoon foul shots

Short minute baseball game (with waterbuckets for bases)

Waterballoon bash with a baseball bat

Short football game

Soccer goal penalty shots

Waterballoon toss

The kid with the most points got to choose his prize first. We also had brownies and ice cream. Such a fun party, and really not that expensive. Although it required several hours of prep- time. 200 waterballoons takes forever.

Here is TJ with a few friends from the party. Yes, there was a girl there. She actually is just "one of the guys" and held her own on all the sports activities.

Douglas got to play a little bit. Here he is shooting waterballoon free throws. Everyone else stood underneath to get hit.

TJ definitely deserved a fun party. He is a great helper (especially with Kira), he works hard with school work, he makes good choices and is a wonderful example for his siblings. Happy Birthday, TJ!

On his actual birthday (Sunday the 12th), he requested chicken wings for dinner. Troy makes killer wings. He tried to imitate the recipe that Wingstop uses, and I like his even better. They are really spicy, though. Here is the recipe:

TROY'S WINGS

1 cup Texas Pete's Hot sauce, 1/2 cup melted butter, 1 TBS. lemonjuice

Fry or bake up some chicken wings and put in bowl with sauce mix. The longer they soak, the hotter they get. Serve with Blue Cheese dressing or ranch if desired. You must use Texas Pete's for the best flavor. We've tried others and they just aren't that great. Make sure to have plenty of napkins handy!