Oliver's 9th Birthday Bash

On October 14, 2016, Oliver turned NINE!

He ran into our room at 6:30 AM and announced, "I'm 9.... I'm almost 10!"

Three hours into being 9 and he was ready for the next number.  We slowed him down a bit to at least celebrate turning nine that day.

Lucky for him, it was a Friday with no school.  We went for a smaller crowd with a bigger bang for his celebration but before all of the fun started, we took a few traditional cake photos.

Oliver wanted another "O" (Oregon) cake but this year, he wanted it to have wings.  Knowing that the time schedule was extremely tight that week, we opted to outsource the cake this year instead of making it ourselves.  Oliver LOVED it!

Oliver was told that he could invite 3-4 friends, so he went with 4 (of course).  We loaded them up mid-day and headed north to the Anderson Farms pumpkin patch.

Kellan, Adriano, Ethan, Owen, Oliver and Chase

After some gold panning and rubber duck races, we challenge them to a pedal race around the track.  It was interesting to see who was nervous and tried to chicken out as well as those who though they were going to win the race.  We ended up with all of the kids in the race, including Ma and Pa Hamilton.

Chase and Adriano racing around the track!

(Do you know how hard it is to photograph other racers as you're trying to win?!  This was a fair race and there was no "letting" anyone win.)

Zipping by Owen.

Keith leading a pack.

The boys rounding the corner.

Adriano checking out who's about to dust him.

Hot on Oliver's trail.

The races were a BLAST!  Ok, maybe more for the adults with longer legs, but there's no whining in pedal races.

These may be the cutest Anderson Farm farmers that I've ever seen!

This guy is especially adorable.

Kellan had SO MUCH FUN hanging with the big kids all day.

The traditional corn maze.  Again, it was very interesting to see the personalities come out.  Those who took off without reading the map.  Those who paused to read the map and understand direction.  Those who just wanted out.  Those who just chased after the big boys.  (That would be the three Ham Family members not celebrating their birthday.)

Looking back at the farm from the middle of the maze.

Our fearless corn maze leader.

When we left the maze, I "made" the boys stop for another photo.  You would have thought that they had just spent a month crawling across the desert the way they cried for water and whined that they didn't want to have another photo taken.   I reminded them of the rules for the day... "stay together, have fun, blah, blah, blah, smile nicely when I ask for photos."  It's that simple.  Give me the photo and we'll give you what you want (almost).  :)

Finally!  The boys got some water and we treated them to kettle corn.  A few of them insisted that they didn't like kettle corn and had no interest in eating it.  Before long, they were all devouring it.  There is something special about hot-from-the-pot kettle corn.

There were even a few who claimed to not like kettle corn who them argued over holding it so that they could have easy access to it.

After fun and games, it was time to head out to the pumpkin patch to find our pumpkin.

The wagon driver gave the group 15 minutes.  This seemed like a mission impossible.

They searched and searched for the perfect pumpkin.  They each had something different in mind.  Some found their pumpkin once, twice, three times.  It's a tough choice when you have 15 minutes to find only one.

Kellan found his perfect pumpkin.

Owen found his perfect pumpkin (which was exchanged before leaving the patch).

Owen was sweet enough to take a quick moment to take our traditional Ham Fam pumpkin patch photo.  Thanks Owen!

Ethan found his perfect pumpkin.

Chase found his perfect pumpkin, which I believe was also exchanged.

Owen found another pumpkin.

Adriano found his perfect pumpkin.

All of the boys had a pumpkin, it may not have ended up being their final choice, but they were set with minutes to spare.

Kellan, Oliver, Owen, Ethan, Chase and Adriano

The rule was that you had to be able to carry your own pumpkin.  We made an exception for the birthday boy and his little brother, just because it was Oliver's special day and Kellan is the little brother.  We're softies, sometimes.

Back at the farm, we took the boys for a barrel train ride.  For years, Keith and I would cram ourselves into these barrels to ride with our little boys.  Now, they are old enough to ride all by themselves with their friends.  This sure does save our tail bones.

It is quite possible that this barrel train has never seen so much cuteness.

As we were leaving, the boys convinced us to race on the "little kid" pedal bikes.  The people running it were awesome and let the boys all go out together.  Watch out Anderson Farms, these boys are about to kick up some dust!

Adriano in the lead.

Oliver trying to take Owen's lead.

Oliver hot on Chase's tail.

(Take note of all of the wagging tongues of concentration.)

Adriano out on his own.

Oliver still hot on Chase's trail.

Giving Mommy the #1 pose.  He was having SO much fun!

Kellan, so happy to be included with all of the big boys.

High-Five for Mommy.

We had SO much fun at Anderson Farm.  The boys may have devoured a large kettle corn, but they had definitely worked up a BIG appetite for Benihanas.

They may have been a bit parched.... or super excited to be allowed to drink Dr Pepper (oops... sorry Mom's :)

There was SO much deep belly laughter going on, especially from Oliver.  It was so much fun to see.

Kellan was thrilled with the soup.  We've never seen him love soup so much.  We think it was the spoon.

Finally... it was time to really get the party started.  Chase's face in this photo cracked me up.  This was just after he announced, "YES, Zucchini!!!"  I've never experienced a kid being so excited for zucchini.  LOVE IT!

More Zucchini... YES, Please!

The boys LOVED the chef's switch up on the traditional train.... a fireman peeing on the onions.  Hilarious to 6 boys!

OOOOoooo.... Sherbet Dessert.

After the boys all ate their entire dinner (yes, the whole thing, not a thing was left) we headed home for the rest of the festivities.  First up, the boys wanted to open gifts.

We then sent the boys outside to play football for an hour and then we brought them in with another empty belly to fill (do they ever fill up?).  It was time for CAKE!

Finally, it was time for bed.... almost.  

The kids were treated to a showing of the Minions movie, followed by lights out.  Three of these boys had soccer the next morning and this Mom and Dad were beat.  The boys insisted that they were going to stay up all night but instead, they were all sleeping by 10:30.  

We all had so much fun celebrating Oliver's 9th birthday.  Oliver is a great kid and has amazing friends.  If we had more energy, he could have filled the house with kiddos but we knew our limits were the number of seat belts in the car.  Thanks to the boys who came to make Oliver's birthday one to raise the bar for best birthdays ever.  Thanks to Oliver for being one amazing kid, son, brother and friend!  You're a special dude and we love you to pieces.