Jude's Halloween Not-So-Birthday Party

Yesterday Jude finally got his 7th birthday party!  Poor kid - his birthday is in July and he is just now getting a party. Sometimes we just roll that way. He really wanted a party with classmates. So he decided that he would rather wait and have a party with Hawaii friends rather than a party with his St. Cecelia friends who he probably woudn't see again. (He and Lucien finished out the school year in St. Cecelia's after we evacuated to Clearwater.) Halloween is his absolute favorite holiday so it worked out great. Not to mention that on top of house hunting and dealing with three kind of freaked out kids, I really didn't want to plan a party this summer.

 

History of Pitiful Birthday Parties: This might be the world's most pitiful birthday party ever. Jude's 4th was held in our room at the navy Lodge  Yokosuka. We had just gotten to town and had only met one other family, but I couldn't remember their last name or what room they were in. So it was the five of us in our hotel room. We couldn't even put candles on the cake because it would set off the sprinklers!

 

This year was better: We also had a witch, another ninja, a power guy, spiderman and a ghost bat show up after football games and soccer games were done. 

 

Jude and Ava. He is about to take his turn playing pin-the-head-on-the-zombie. Jude really wanted it to be pin-the-brains-on-the-zombie-mouth, but I didn't think that was such a good idea. Thankfully, I prevailed because the pink ghost was the nervous sort. Ava is a friend from Japan who moved to Hawaii right after the earthquake. We consider her family now and Anders even calls her, his sister. In Hawaii they have a great word - Ohana - which roughly means your extended family. Ava and her family are definitely our Ohana along with another couple from Yokosuka. In fact, it was Ava's mom, Katie, who convinced us to live in Kailua instead of the Pearl Harbor, and who put up Brad while he house-searched.

Mummy hot dogs, witchs' hats, bat & moon chips, bone breadsticks, and cheetos because if Jude gets a day off of his dairy free diet, he wants to go big time.

Anders in a recycled Peter Pan costume. At this rate we may never have to buy the kid a new costume.

 

Balance the balloon game.

 

Finish line at the mummy race.

 

Our neighbor Connor taking a swimg at the bat pinata. I never learn! Jude saw a homemade bat pinata  in a Martha Stewart magazine, and I thought: How hard could it be? Deep down I know that if it is in a MS magazine that it will be either impossible for me to do or a totaly-time-consuming-pain-the-in-the-butt. The bat almost the fomer and completely the latter.

 

Slightly crazed yet happy boy. This is not the Martha Stewart haunted house cake he wanted, because I'm not completely stupid nor delusional.

 

Our Honey Badger can eat a swiss meringue ghost in one gulp and look what he did to the frosting. By the way: real buttercream - score!

 

We'll see how washable Disney costumes are.

 

Ava got Jude a punching bag and a picture of Lucien's face to pin on it. Jude has a nasty temper and Lucien has had 7 years to hone his skills at bringing it out. Ava figured this would be a good way for Jude to let out his "power."

 

Naked punch bag boxing! Watch out beer pong, Anders invented a new game.

 

I hope Jude had a great day. He deserves it. But before I finish, I've got one final brag on him: I met with the school this week and he is not eligible for any special services, including speech or reading! It's hard to believe how far he has come from the little 4 year old who couldn't articulate and who had to hold a pencil with 2 hands.  No one could understand except for Lucien.  But now, after years of hard work, Jude has become a confident, talking, and reading seven year old.  Many thanks to all of the people who helped him out especially our parents, Dr. Agin, Lia Stormer (his Yokosuka speech therapist) and finally to the late Wendy Wrucha (his Florida therapist).

Comments

[Dawn]

Fantastic news about Jude!! What an amazing little guy with amazing parents dedicated to getting him to this place. His party looked fun and I'm very impressed by the pinata - you go girl. :) Hugs to all of you.

[Sonnya]

I love all your posts, Shannon!
You have such a wonderful way of sharing the events in your lives. I had to laugh at the Martha Stewart Halloween cake because yours looked so good. I HAD to look it up and sure enough, it's a total overachiever's cake...It's important to know our own limitations, I find!

Well done with Jude- I am sure his improvements are also due to your perseverance and his own hard work.

I especially had to chuckle at your first photo and caption- about the worst birthday party. Anders stuck in his little foam chair, 'everyone' gathered around...
I am sure all your boys will be much bolstered in life by your making things right for them, somehow, no matter what the circumstances- and here I am talking about your epic move from Japan in particular.

Enjoy your family, and know that your stories travel around the world and bring joy!
Sonnya

[shannon]

Thank you Sonnya and Dawn. I love it when both of you post about your cool lives in South Africa and New Zealand!

[partytent huren]

Granted, there will be some children who think it's the best party in the history of ever, but others will be cowering in a corner, blathering something about the man with the big feet, and the rest will be gleefully playing in a pile of horse poop. We kinda have to go with the tried-and-true: handing them a bunch water balloons and going back inside to have a drink.