Happy 11th Birthday, Bean!

On Monday, this Bean right here…

…turned 11 years old.

So did Mr. Bear, by the way, who is still going strong at our house.

11 years old, my friends. You know what that means, right? My imaginary friends and I are getting O-L-D.

You know how else I can tell we’re all getting old? Because Bean got his a phone for his birthday. A phone, you guys. As in, Bean has his own phone number. I’ll do a whole blog post later on how we are managing this new addition to our cyber lives, but for now, let me just tell you how WEIRD it is to get a text from your kid. It is weird and wonderful and so, so very fun.

For his birthday, we rented a giant inflatable water slide and invited a few close friends from the neighborhood over to play. (Covid disclaimer: Everyone stayed outside the whole time and these are the same and only kids Bean has played with in the past two weeks.)

They also jumped from the water slide into the pool and trampoline and then back again. Over and over. For three hours. I was exhausted just watching them.

(By the way, I just got an iPhone 11 and I LOVE that it can take pictures like this! So much more in the shot now!)

It is a well known fact in our house that Bean is a candy fein. He loves and any all candy. He’ll take it over any other choice you give him. So, I made him a candy cake for his birthday. I used a boxed chocolate cake and frosted the two round layers. Then I bought an obscene amount of candy and covered every inch of the cake.

Honestly, it was the grossest thing ever, but Bean LOVED it and so did his friends!

The party was from 1:00 – 4:00 and was really low maintenance. I put out a cooler of water bottles and sodas and a spread some trash cans around the back yard for trash. Mostly, Chris and I stayed inside the house, but every half hour or so, I made a pass through with the pretense of bringing snacks. For one round, I brought out a bin full of individually wrapped chips, crackers, and granola bars and just left them to devour those. On another round, I brought around watermelon slices and ice pops. And then at 3:00, we had cake. Other than that, they really just played outside the entire time while I sat inside and kept an eye on things from the living room.

The best advice I can give for a big kid birthday party is to clean up between rounds of activities. As the kids played, I would walk through when I brought the food around and pick up any trash or clean up any spills I found as I went. It gave me a chance to socialize with the boys a little and keep the mess contained. By the time the party was over, there was hardly anything to clean up.

It was definitely a Bean-style party – laidback, fun, and up for anything. There’s no other way to celebrate this sweet boy, who is quickly becoming just an awesome young man. I’m so lucky he is the one who gets to teach me how to be a mom. 🙂