Celebrating Nine with Elias

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Hobby Lobby.The opinions and text are my own.

For nine summers, I have thrown awesome birthday parties for my son Elias. Elmo, trains, Star Wars, Minions, pirates, super heroes and more. It has been a huge joy for me to put together these parties and celebrate another birthday.

Last year felt like a transition year. We went and saw Secret Life of Pets and then came back for pizza and cake. I only did a few decorations, but we did have a themed cake.

This year. Nine years old. No theme. No special themed cake, just a plain chocolate one from Sam’s Club.

Five boys over for a water balloon fight, cookout and sleepover, with Rogue One the evening’s screen choice. They stayed up until 10:30 and were awake at 5:30 a.m.

It was different.

But great. The boys jumped, made fart noises and laughed, as nine-year-olds do. They created Ninja Warrior obstacle courses and battled with light sabers.

Before things began, I asked Elias if we could take a few photos with some balloons and my new letter board from Hobby Lobby. The idea about using the letter board came to me last minute, and before taking the pictures, I quickly assembled the phrase NINE IS AWESOME (the board came with tons of letters).

I snapped the photos of Elias in quick succession, in just a few minutes, as nine year olds are not the earth’s most patient creatures.

I love every single picture. They capture Elias’s fun personality, his silliness, his kindness, his just plain awesomeness.

I then hung the letter board up in the dining room. It was the perfect “non-birthday” decor.

Nine is awesome. Even without a themed birthday party.

Thanks to Hobby Lobby for sponsoring this post. Get 40% off this memo board this week (or any other regular priced item) with the coupon below.