I forgot to post on Noah's birthday. He turned 12 on Oct. 23. He is now taller than me and continuing to grow every night it seems. For his birthday "party" he wanted to go have a fun day with his two best friends, Ryan and Sergio. Last year there were several events that got in the way of him getting to celebrate with his friends (me going to a funeral--which is a good excuse, and him fracturing his growth plate--another reasonable excuse to my way of thinking), so I had to work up from a deficit of a year's worth of complaints whining reminders that he never got to do something for his 11th birthday. In order to avoid another year of "reminders," I determined to do my best to make it a good one.
The boys all had a half day on Noah's birthday because of parent/teacher conferences, so we started our day o' fun at Joe's Farm Grill for Noah's free lunch and our not at all free lunch. It's nice when the restaurants your kids like are good ones as opposed to having to choke down McDonald's! Then we raced over to catch a movie at San Tan mall. We went to see Eagle Eye. While we enjoyed the story, I was dismayed as I sat there with 3 young boys to hear a great deal of profanity throughout the movie-including the mother of all profanities. I told them all that I would spank them and put soap in their mouths if they ever said those words--regardless of whether or not I was their mother! Unfortunately, I had gotten my movie review prior to deciding upon that movie from a certain teenager in the house who had also seen the movie and neglected to mention--and didn't even notice!--the language. She is now restricted to Disney princess movies for the rest of her time here in our home. Anyhoo, I digress. If you were thinking of seeing that movie, be forewarned.
After the movie we had an hour to kill, so we went to the dollar store. It was an easy way for them to get party favors!! The boys got some really great quality toys that I'm sure will last a long time and I picked up a few things too just 'cause it's a fun store and I was thinking ahead to Christmas stockings!! How's that for multitasking??
Then we were off to play laser tag--well, them, not me. There's a picture for you: me running around playing laser tag--right, it would be more like me sitting in a corner shooting whatever came near me! 2 hours of laser tag and several arcade games later, we were taking Sergio home to Queen Creek (which felt oddly like north Tucson we were driving so long). During the long ride, the boys made use of their dollar store dart guns by shooting their leftover fries out the window at street signs. Yeah, that's not something you see every day. I give them an A for creativity. You have never heard three 12 year old boys have so much fun in a car. Noah, ever the cautious one, made sure they only did it when no other cars were nearby so no one mistook their miniature shotguns for real ones! Needless to say, my backseat needed a bit of vacuuming when we returned home, which the birthday boy and french fry shooter extraordinaire naturally took care of. I think it was the "you'd better high tail it out there and clean that up before your dad sees it" comment that did the trick. Dad doesn't like a mess in the car and french fry remnants all over the place might have sent him over the edge.
One of my favorite parts of the day was the fact that my son and his friends were totally cool with me hanging out with them. I mean, they didn't invite me to play laser tag and Noah didn't hold my hand or anything, but they let me hang out with them at lunch and were cool with me sitting with them at the movie. In today's "drop me off at the corner so no one sees us together" world, it was a delight for me that my son likes having me around. Of course it could just be because the three of them won't talk to strangers--cashiers included!--and they just needed a go-between to order things for them and protect them in case someone asked them a question.
Here's a shot of Noah with his birthday cinnamon rolls. He picked them out at the store for his birthday dessert. How easy is a tube of cinnamon rolls to prepare?? I kept saying, "are you sure this is what you want?" What can I say, he likes cinnamon rolls! But he doesn't like smiling for the camera. That would be a 12 year old boy thing. Well, for him it's a 9-12 year old boy thing. He is either looking like he's at a funeral or like this. I told him I would put this one up for posterity's sake, so here it is.
