I Don't Know What You've Been Told- Tanner Turned 8 Years Old

So yesterday our favorite little Cadet turned 8 years old. I really can't believe it. Tanner is 8 and growing up way too fast. I love this kid so much. We had the best time celebrating him tonight with 7 of his little friends. 

I mean, REALLY, how cute is this guy?

We love this kid so freakin' much and we are so proud of the young man he is becoming. 

Chris dressed in one of his former uniforms and came to be the "drill sergeant" at the party. The kids loved it and Tanner was thrilled.

Tanner loved the party set up. More than once during the party, Tanner came up to me and hugged me and thanked me for the awesome party. He kept telling me how much he loved it. It was so cute.
I love this boy and his tender heart!

Now, onto the party setup. I kinda love how this all came together. I was worried about achieving the look I was imagining but it's basically exactly how I imagine it. 

This was the main food table or our "Mess Hall".  How fun is the netting backdrop? I love it.
I bought tons of different sized crates from Walmart and painted them in camo colors. I made some pedestal stands and bought a printable army package from etsy. These details really brought the party together.

I served dinner for the boys and lots of snacks. 

This is one of my favorite party details. Chris and I made it together. He cute the wood and drilled holes and I painted the letters. I feel like it pulls the food table together. 

So we served veggie cups or  "local vegetation"

Mini brownies or "bootcamp brownies"

We had camo cupcakes and these super yummy green gummy army men. They smelled like green apples and I kind of loved them. I ate more than my fair share. 

We also had kettle corn with chocolate drizzles or "paratrooper popcorn"

That was it for the snacks/treats. Then each boy also got a "MRE" dinner. MRE's are "Meals Ready to Eat" and the military eat them when in the field or during combat. You can add water and heat them up or eat them cold but each packet contains 2000 calories. In my opinion, they aren't very tasty, but they are great for food storage.
Anyways, I didn't serve real MRE's. But I made each boy a kid-friendly version. They included two pieces of bread, one slice of cheese, two pieces of ham and a packet of mayo. There was also a granola bar and a juice box inside each box. The boys loved it!

Oh and Tanner's cake. Tanner finally confessed to me this year that he doesn't really like cake. It was so cute because he didn't want to hurt my feelings but he didn't want a cake. After I assured him that I was OK with him not liking cake, we nixed the typical birthday cake and found a better solution. 

So this year, Tanner had a donut cake. And we placed those delicious gummy army men on the cake too. So cute. I kind of love it and I love that I didn't have to stress over making a fancy camo cake. 

Then we had a drinks/favors table. 

I served water and root beer

And the favor bags were so fun. They had camo binoculars, a rubber bracelet, chocolate bar and a bag of green plastic army men. 

Oh and each boy also got a real "MRE" to take home and try. 

Here are the tables were the boys ate their food. 

You can see that each boy also got a camo helmet. 

This was our "armory". Here is where the boys suited up into their camo shirts and dog tags and where we armed them with marshmallow guns and ammo. 

The camo shirts were rolled up with the dog tags wrapped around them and then on the bag of the bench were all the camo marshmallow guns. 

And here are the marshmallow ammo bags. 

When everyone got to the party, we had the boys get their camo gear on and then we headed outside to the obstacle course. 

Chris took the boys through the course and they watched in complete awe and fascination. 

They had to army crawl under the ropes

Then they had to grab two water balloon grenades and throw them at the target. 

This is the water balloon target Chris (the most amazing husband) made for me and then I painted. 

Then they had to run/jog around the bushes and come back to the starting point. 

Then it was onto some more boot camp drills. Sit ups and push ups. 

Next up, "tug-o-war". There were four boys on each side and they had  blast competing against each other. 

Look at all these brave and strong soldiers!

(back row) Brody Quale, Caleb Lott, Judah Halbrook and Cooper Lowden
(front row) Beckham Quale, Tanner, Clark Drake and Conner Misken. 

Then it was back inside to the Mess Hall for dinner. 

Sweet friends!

After dinner we took the boys out for an epic marshmallow gun war. It was seriously so fun. I played with the boys and I definitely got a few good shots in, but they all gained up on me and shot me quite a few times with their marshmallow ammo. It was so awesome. We were all laughing and giggling so much. Such a blast!

After the boys were sufficiently worn out, we went back inside for cake and treats. 

Then it was onto presents. I loved watching all the boys interact and play together. They all enjoyed watching Tanner open his presents. So fun!

Watch out world- these boys are brave and bold. 

We are so grateful for all these great friends. 

They all had such a great time together and Tanner is such a lucky boy. 

So that's Tanner's 8th Birthday party. We had such a blast and we were so happy to share the fun with both sets of grandparents there with us. It was a great night. 

I can hardly believe after all my prep and work, the party's over, but stay tuned because tomorrow morning my sweet 8 year old boy is getting baptized.