Happy Birthday Josiah!

Josiah turned 7 in March and he wanted an army themed party.  I thought this would be a challenge at first but then when you realize you have to please a bunch of BOYS with "army stuff"...no problem.  "Easy peasy lemon squeezy" as my kids would say.  The boys were recruits at Josiah's Birthday Bash.  They had to go through "rigorous" training in order to accomplish the mission: to detonate a minefield of grenades (AKA camouflage easter eggs filled with candy!).  
The boys had an obstacle course and some other training drills to accomplish.  They had a lot of fun.  It was a great day so in this mama's book...MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!

(Thank you Auntie Wendy for the amazing pics!)

 Auntie Lauren never fails us...another great cake.  And the best part was not only the camo on the outside but she even made the inside camo.  So talented! 

 Each recruit got their own helmet, dog tag and "canteen".  

 That's right...training time!  Push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks and running!

 And you didn't think the girls wouldn't get in on the action, did you?!?!

 The tire run of the obstacle course.

 The army crawl was certainly the favorite in the course.  Dave did such an amazing job putting this course together.  (And shhhh...but I think he enjoyed putting it together as much as the kids enjoyed going through it.)

 He may have been trailing behind but he was a part of everything the big recruits were doing.

 I just love this face of Hannah doing the army crawl.  So intense...God will use that quality someday, I know.

 Our little soldier.

 So they through the course 2 times but before the 2nd round, they had to pick a card out of a helmet.  On the card they either "lost a leg" or "lost an arm" or "went blind" during battle.  So they had to do the course without that body part.  That was funny!  Caleb lost his sight so it was pretty funny watching the legless soldier leading the blind man!  As you can see Siah lost an arm.  They were all such troopers (pun intended!).

 And of course some good 'ole fashion tug-o-war!

 This was the funniest!  Dave found this old army stretcher at work and brought it home knowing I could figure something out to do with it.  The kids had to "carry their platoon" from one destination to another until the whole team was carried.  Some weren't as strong so yes, some soldiers were dropped!

 Auntie Wendy handed me the camera and surprised the kids by hopping on the stretcher.  They thought that was great.  Everyone knows that Auntie Wendy is no doubt a trooper!

Happy Birthday Josiah!  You are a soldier in God's army and He is going to use you in amazing ways in all the missions of your life.  We love you!