Noah's Camping Party {Golden Birthday // 7 on the 7th}

We have a SEVEN year old.   Seven.

On January 7th, we got to celebrate 7 years with our oldest prince--his golden birthday.  He is our first born, our thinker, our helper, our tender-hearted leader.  He turned precious dreams of motherhood into a living, breathing reality for me.

What a blessing you are to us, sweet boy.  You are so very loved, my son. 

Noah has been asking for a pet for some time now, so we thought 7 sounded like a good year to begin down the pet road.  Given that we have a houseful with our growing brood, we needed to start out small.  A huge smile spread across Noah's face as he unwrapped his first present the night before his birthday to find a hanging fish bowl for his room.  We took a little trip to our local pet store that same evening and Noah picked out a baby beta.

This is "Lulu," and Noah is just a bit smitten with her.

About a week before his birthday, we chatted with Noah about what kind of party he'd like to have.  We threw out ideas, knowing that the older he gets, the lamer mom and her silly party theme/decorations are going to be.  I'm reveling in these years while I can still get all craft happy for their special days.  After brainstorming for a bit, we landed on a camping theme.  One of Noah's FAVORITE memories in his 7 years thus far is definitely his camping trip this past summer.  While Emmitt and I were visiting my family in New York for a family reunion 12 l-o-n-g years in the making, Adam took Noah and Mason on a week long camping tour through our beautiful state.  The boys talk about that trip ALL THE TIME and I often find them setting up pretend camp around our home.  I know it will be the first of many adventures, but this one was certainly special to all of them.  Precious time for our boys with their Daddy and memories that I know they will cherish for years and years to come.

Camping in January?  Yes please.  

Noah started off his birthday with a breakfast run with Daddy and Emmitt to buy "bear claws" from the store bakery.  Gotta have bear claws for a camping party. :) While the boys were out, I happily set up Camp Noah with my mom and sister.

What party wouldn't be complete without a little Lego dude taking his place in the mix?

Treat bags for little camper guests . . .

S'more mix for Noah's buddies to take home with them . . .

After figuring out what direction Noah wanted his party to go, I poked around Pinterest for camping party ideas and found this sweet cake (she found her inspiration here).  This was my first attempt at making a cake with a fully decked out top and oh man, it was SOOOO much fun.  I baked four 9 inch round cakes to build the layers (alternating chocolatey dutch and yellow swirl flavas), then I stacked them up, frosted the whole thing and went to work with my fantastically fun marshmallow fondant (I used an easy peasy recipe found here).  My mama and my little sister drove over from Denver to celebrate our Noah boy.  So thankful!  My sweet in-laws ended up feeling under the weather (most likely a shared thing from our sick little boys the week before), and with my older sis closing in on her last few weeks before my her third baby girl arrives, they decided it was best to stick close to home.   

Finishing (and starting) touches the night before . . .

I took a couple* pictures of the finished cake.  

*This is the part where my literal, math-lovin' seven year old would inform me that a "couple" implies TWO.  I also hear him quietly count his way up to 60 under his breath when I tell him we can do something "in a minute."  I guess I shouldn't be surprised if he grabs a handful of m&m's when I tell him he can have a couple, or when he takes an extra 20 minutes to play when I tell him he just has a minute more.  :)
 
I may or may not have gotten a little carried away as I snapped pictures of our little camping scene.  What can I say . . . the real birthday boy would only oblige for so many shots, and the little fondant Noah was just staring at me with that big, happy perma-grin.

Our happy, toothless 7 year old . . .    

This is his "excited and slightly bashful" smile.  Love it. 

Blowing out the campfire . . .

Kind words and fun new things from friends and family . . .

Baby bro checking out the stash . . .

A little something that Mason and Daddy picked out just for our Noah . . .

Hanging out with Aunt Ellie as he digs into the tent after dinner . . .

Our big boy ended his day with more cake, a movie + popcorn picnic in the living room, a few rounds of his new Battleship game (thank you, Nana!), LOTS of Lego building and big birthday kisses from Mason . . .

What a sweet day!

Happy 7th Birthday, Noah Patrick!

So excited to see what the Lord has in store for you this year!