Six? No WAY!!!

Our little man turned SIX  a few weeks ago and it was a grand affair! Luckily, his birthday was on a school day, so he received the royal treatment from everyone at home AND at school! I always wished I could celebrate my birthday at school, but having a summer birthday that never happened. Therefore, I was ALL about making Josh the center of attention on his special day.

Josh started off the day waking up to a special treat sitting on our living room couch! Pickles! A few hours later,  Pickles, Emily and I met Josh for lunch in his school cafeteria.

I had the pleasure of being the class mystery reader for the day, but Josh stole the book away and read it to his class himself.  He did a great job.

Then,  Pickles got to read a book. I love how quiet and attentive they all "look" in this picture. After feeding them birthday treats, they were definitely not quiet and attentive kindergartners. 

After school, and just in time for birthday dinner, Matthew and Will arrived!  They even brought Mommy and Johnny with them!  I love these sweet boys. If it was acceptable for boys to wear BFF necklaces, these two would do it. 
Katie and her family came over also and the house was filled with all of Josh's (and my) favorites.
What a prefect way to celebrate!

The next day, our pretty little house was transformed into a Spy Agency and we were ready for an afternoon of training 

25 top secret agents. 

 

All agents had to give the secret pass code (given with their invitation) upon entering the agency and then pick up their agency name badge. 

Each agent had six missions to accomplish in order to pass spy training and be eligible to receive their cake and secret agent kit. The first mission was Evidence and Code Cracking. In this mission, the agents cracked their individual code names which were written on their badges using secret symbols. In this mission, they also had their fingerprints taken and practiced using invisible ink pens. 

Mission two led the agents to a secret room where they got to dress in disguise and in true secret spy fashion. Pictures were taken of each agent. 

And they were hilarious.

  

Mission three was the "I Spy" mission. In this mission, the agents used their keen observation skills to find hidden objects on I Spy posters. They also used their sense of touch to guess objects hidden in paper sacks. 

Mission four was voted the favorite at school the next Monday. Well, at least of the boy agents.  Target practice was held in the formal living room, because where else would it be?  We had three targets set up for the agents. Two targets were for nerf gun shooting practice and the third target was used to stick the sticker on the bullseye while blindfolded. 

In mission five  the agents were asked to recover lost gold and jewels. Originally, this mission was to be held in the backyard so the kids could really work off some energy running around finding clues and ending up in Josh's tree house to find the treasure box of chocolate gold coins and jewels. But, of course, it was pouring rain and storming, so at the final hour, we had to reword all the scavenger clues to work in the garage. We added some required exercises to obtain clues and I think it all worked out in the end. Thank you Agent Chris, Tricia, and Pickles for sitting on the cold garage floor at 10pm the night before the party to help me come up with new clues!!! 

Mission accomplished!

 In the final mission, all the agents came together to defuse this bomb.  Turns out, I am pretty skilled at making bombs. It's amazing what one can do with a few paper towel rolls, a broken car cell phone charger and a kitchen timer! I had to reassure the kids that the bomb was indeed fake (and stuffed full with candy) and I would not explode the party- especially not before cake and presents.

We played "pass the bomb" and the last agent standing got to take the bomb and all it's candy home.  I was very glad it was the son of a dear friend who won, so I didn't have a whole lot of explaining to do when I sent a bomb home with her child. 

Since the agents did a fine job completing their training missions, they deserved lots of treats! After the bomb had been defused, the agents sat down to watch a little Inspector Gadget show and enjoyed a cupcake topped with Pop Rocks and a special kit full of spy essentials.  

Finally, it was time to say good-bye to all the agents and to another year of birthday madness.

 I love this picture. Josh with his buds on his special day. 

What a great day it was. 

Thanks for sharing it with us!