The Knudsen Krew: Jonathan's Big Birthday Celebration

Jonathan turned 14 on November 18th, Wednesday...

He had 3 Celebrations...

On his actual birthday we had Crepes with Nutella and Bananas for his birthday breakfast. This has been his favorite birthday breakfast his entire life. I thought the boy was half French when he was three because his favorite restaurant was NOT McDonalds but a European cafe that served all types of crepes. He learned to make crepes with me around age three as well. It is a yummy dish ..those crepes with Nutella and Banana...also good with the usual jam, butter and powdered sugar.

First Celebration......He had his end of season football banquet on his actual birthday...November 18th. He was sung to and had birthday cake with all his football buddies. All I can say is those boys sure can play football but singing is a different story. Ha Ha! But, it was fun to share a moment with his football team who had a truly amazing year together.

Second Celebration.....Friday night Jon and 4 of his closest friends got together at Classic Skating to do boy things. These boys have been buddies since we moved in when Jon was three. I love watching them hang out together. They are so comfortable with each other and have such fun bantering back and forth. And when I thought about past birthday parties it was interesting for me to see how much they have each changed. They are as tall or taller than me and their voices are getting lower and the topic of conversation was frequently about girls!!!

I have learned that throwing a party for a 14 year old is way different than throwing a party for a ten year old. You set up the activities and then get out of the way. They had a blast at Classic skate playing lazer tag, playing tag in the bounce house and capture the flag in the blast zone. ...oh and talking with girls!!

After they did all those boy things at Classic Skate we were off to eat at the Training Table. Jonathan's first choice was In and Out Burger but because it was its first day open in Draper we thought, ahhh.. let's avoid the crowds and go to the good ol' Training Table. It was the boys' idea so we didn't feel bad about that at all!

Bodie was such a pro at placing everyone's orders.....

Hanging onto childhood just a little longer...they all colored and laughed and talked while waiting for their food to be ready... ! Ha Ha!

Yum...burgers and cheese fries with fry sauce!! Pure heaven!

After eating, they all came home and watched a movie together and slept over. The next morning it was Wii games, computer games and breakfast together. We had crepes ofcourse!

Happy Birthday Jonathan! He sure has a wonderful group of friends who all get a long so well and will probably be friends for life.

Third Celebration....

and my favorite is our own family party. We had this on Sunday November 22nd. We had his birthday dinner: Steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, scones, green beans with bacon and salad. These dinners are just the best of times. Everyone gets the chance to give a small gift to the birthday person and share a funny story, at least one reason why they love and appreciate the birthday person and one thing they hope for the birthday person's future. It always ends up being such a fun afternoon with laughter and family togetherness. We lit the candles on his cake--the Icecream Sandwich Cake..that has been the family favorite this year, sang him Happy Birthday--and Jonathan is officially 14 years old!! Here's a few pictures from our fun afternoon celebrating Jon's birthday:

Jon's an expert at making scones..... He insisted on making this part of the meal and I love to cook with him in the kitchen. I have since he was a mere 3 years old....when he learned how to make crepes with me.

I put the three youngest boys to work peeling potatoes. Scott even had to get in on the action. He is using a butter knife to "help."

Ready to eat his birthday dinner!

Joseph sharing a funny story about Jonathan...

And Eric too...

We have a great tradition where everyone buys a small gift for the birthday person. It is really fun to see what each person comes up with. They are usually quite simple and from the heart. Michael knew that one of Jon's favorite treats is Ho Ho's... It is such fun to give gifts to each other.