It is always hard to think another year has passed.  Especially when you are celebrating your kids' birthdays.  I always think back to the day they were born.  I can't believe Nolan is now 8! What a special age to turn.  The kids had off school and we were excited to spend the day doing something fun.  Unfortunately, JJ had to work but we were glad he would be home earlier since he was at Regional Eyecare.  It was a chilly day, and the weather wasn't ideal for a lot of outdoor things.  I spent a lot of time with Nolan trying to think of something fun he wanted to do on his birthday.  He was being kind of grumpy and didn't like any of the ideas I was listing off.  I decided to run some errands, I needed to run to Walmart for a few things.  Lucy, Craig and I ran to Walmart.  JJ came home for lunch, and we opened presents.  That made Nolan happy to open his cards and gifts.  He spent the afternoon playing with them.  Declan came over and played with him.  I was exhausted from late night volleyball games, so I slipped in my room for a quick nap.  JJ was able to get off early and so we decided to go do something fun with him.  I called down to a new place in the Chesterfield valley, the main event.  I got some pricing and we headed down there to have some fun.  Nolan was wanting some adventure and was excited to go.  We got tickets for laser tag with everyone and the ropes course for the kids.  We all had fun doing the laser tag, Nolan didn't like when he got shot.  We had to wait a little while for the ropes course, so Grandma treated Nolan to a game card for the arcade.  We all used the points on the card to play some games.  It was fun to walk around and play some games, some we played together.  Nolan played all the basketball games there.  They were his favorite.  He earned several points playing the games and was excited to pick something out in the little store.  We were almost decided on what we wanted, and a lady came in with a ring of 600 points that she gave Nolan.  We were going to have to rethink our prizes.  We were going to have to wait until after the ropes course.  The kids were brave and excited about doing the ropes course.  It was up above the arcade games.  None of them seemed nervous or scared.  There was one thing that Nolan was too nervous to do, and he just avoided that part.  It was fun for us to watch them down below.  It was fun to see them enjoying themselves.  Especially Nolan.  I think he was sad not being able to do something fun all day.  I am glad we waited to do something as a family.  I am also glad we found something that Nolan wanted to do.  We were able to pick something fun out with all of the points.  Nolan picked out a stuffed cheeseburger, a squishy ball and some candy.  It was a fun evening.  We will have to go again as a family.  We ordered some pizza at Domino's, Nolans favorite.  We stopped and got Sing 2 at Redbox to do a movie night after dinner.  Our pizza took forever, and they didn't have our order right.  It was kind of a pain because usually they are so fast.  We were all so hungry and it was getting late.  We enjoyed our pizza dinner and then had birthday cake with Nolan.  He requested an ice cream cake with cookies and cream ice cream with Oreo's around the side.  We put snickers, Reeses peanut butter cups and m&m's on top.  He helped me make it the night before.  It was fun to have him be my helper.  It was so yummy!  We enjoyed relaxing and watching a movie together after dinner and cake.  When I think about the day it was all Nolan.  It really was filled with all the things he loves.  He loves to play with Declan, loves video games, loves adventure, loves dominos and movie nights.  I hope he felt so loved and celebrated!  I know I had a fun day celebrating him and the special boy he is.