Every year, Caleb's birthday celebration turns into a 1 1/2 - 2 week extravaganza! This year we kicked off the two weeks at the farm with the whole Miller family! What better way to start off the celebration than with the coveted gumball machine that Gma & Gpa Miller got him. He has been wanting a gumball machine for 2 years now...no kidding! His mean momma wouldn't let him have one until now because of previous problems with swallowing gum (see Dec.10, 2008 post). I don't know if the urban myth of gum staying in your stomach for 7 years is true, but I figured 5+ times of swallowing gum was not a good thing!
He also got a huge box of art supplies and a tub of K'Nex. He was a bit intimidated with the K'Nex the first time that he and I put one together, but after I showed him a few tricks of the trade, he loved them! 
Caleb celebrated with Jaelyn, who turned 4 and Uncle Dan, who turned 53.
Round two...December 3rd...the official birthday day! We took the boys to Chucky Cheese after school for a few hours of fun and games...not food. Jon and I don't mind Chucky Cheese all that much, but we draw the line with the food...we just can't get all that excited about cardboard pizza!
Gotta love Caleb's little tight lipped smile...he kinda looks like Chucky Cheese in this picture!
I LOVE the Skeech Ball...Caleb and Josh do too!
Caleb & Josh had a lot of fun racing cars. Look out Nascar! Josh LOVED this game!
We ended up with about 400 tickets after 1 1/2 hours...not bad! Caleb likes to save them up for a neat toy...the cheap little plastic trinkets just don't do it for him!
Caleb played a new game, "Deal or No Deal" and really did pretty well at it. This has turned into my 2nd favorite game now ;)
Caleb did a few John Travolta moves on the dance floor before we left for dinner!
We were off t Chevy's Fresh Mex for dinner in honor of his new Spanish skills (and because Jon and I like to eat there!) Caleb likes Chevy's because it is "like Christmas all year long!" He loves all the lights that they have strung around the restaurant!
They brought the birthday boy a balloon...
and his jealous little brother too!
On the way home, the inevitable happened...Josh popped his balloon on the ceiling vent in the car. Crocodile tears and uncontrollable weeping soon followed. After a few minutes of theatrics he calmed down enough for Caleb to offer a few genuine consoling words of advice..."It's OK Josh, you can just remember that you had a balloon once. I have had things break in my life too. Like my snow globes. Here, you can hold onto my balloon on the way home." Jon and I just looked at each other and did our best to hide our laughter...so cute!* * *
Round 3! Caleb's birthday theme this year was "Fly High" at the Science Center. So, I decided to put on my Betty Crocker "hat" and try my hand at making a space shuttle cake. I can safely say that I will just stick to a regular cake or cupcakes next year!
We arrived at the Science Museum and quickly got to work constructing rocket ships with 7 of his friends.
Josh worked on his rocket for a whole 5 minutes and he could not take it any longer. He just had to get his little sticky fingers on the blow up airplane decoration and flew it around the room!
We lined the kids up and headed for the lobby. They have a 4 story "hole" through the center of the Pavilion and this is where the boys got to shoot their rockets off. They were so giddy with excitement and could hardly contain themselves! We gave strict instructions to stay in line as we weaved our way through the busy lobby...bad timing...there was some sort of musical concert waiting to happen and it was FULL of people.
We safely arrived at the launch pad table and went to work.
The air compressor was a bit loud!
They all yelled 3, 2, 1, blast off and each took turns blasting their rockets off. I think that the people in the lobby enjoyed watching too. Side note...it is so funny how people feel the need to leave their mouths open when they look up...why is that?!
Time to open presents...
And, cut into my precious Space Shuttle cake...oh well!
Now, the hard part. Our party host's job was over and we were responsible for 9 very active little boys in the huge Science Museum! I was having visions of someone getting lost and telling their parents all about it when they came to pick them up!
We looked at a few displays and then came across the tornado machine. The kids really wanted to try it and Caleb wanted NOTHING to do with the tornado machine. I think he is terrified of them after watching the Wizard of Oz at Thanksgiving (see previous post for story!) No amount of prodding from Jon and I was going to convince him...I think that he must have thought it was going to transport him to the witches castle or something! The wind got up to 80 MPH in there and the boys just loved it!
We decided to stay in the water room because one of us could guard the door and we could keep all the little munchkins in one place much easier that way!
Their creative imaginations turned the evaporation tunnels into monster tunnels and I think they had a blast scaring each other in those!
One last group picture of all the kiddos (one is missing...he was in the tee pee and Josh was in the bathroom!)
We arrived at the Science Museum and quickly got to work constructing rocket ships with 7 of his friends.
Josh worked on his rocket for a whole 5 minutes and he could not take it any longer. He just had to get his little sticky fingers on the blow up airplane decoration and flew it around the room!
We lined the kids up and headed for the lobby. They have a 4 story "hole" through the center of the Pavilion and this is where the boys got to shoot their rockets off. They were so giddy with excitement and could hardly contain themselves! We gave strict instructions to stay in line as we weaved our way through the busy lobby...bad timing...there was some sort of musical concert waiting to happen and it was FULL of people.
We safely arrived at the launch pad table and went to work.
The air compressor was a bit loud!
They all yelled 3, 2, 1, blast off and each took turns blasting their rockets off. I think that the people in the lobby enjoyed watching too. Side note...it is so funny how people feel the need to leave their mouths open when they look up...why is that?!
Time to open presents...
And, cut into my precious Space Shuttle cake...oh well!
Now, the hard part. Our party host's job was over and we were responsible for 9 very active little boys in the huge Science Museum! I was having visions of someone getting lost and telling their parents all about it when they came to pick them up!
We looked at a few displays and then came across the tornado machine. The kids really wanted to try it and Caleb wanted NOTHING to do with the tornado machine. I think he is terrified of them after watching the Wizard of Oz at Thanksgiving (see previous post for story!) No amount of prodding from Jon and I was going to convince him...I think that he must have thought it was going to transport him to the witches castle or something! The wind got up to 80 MPH in there and the boys just loved it!
We decided to stay in the water room because one of us could guard the door and we could keep all the little munchkins in one place much easier that way!
Their creative imaginations turned the evaporation tunnels into monster tunnels and I think they had a blast scaring each other in those!
One last group picture of all the kiddos (one is missing...he was in the tee pee and Josh was in the bathroom!)
I think that the kids had a great time...and we were some pretty exhausted parents when we got home! Happy 6th Birthday, Caleb!!
