At our house it’s breakfast in bed with the birthday boy’s favorite cereal.  We don’t have cereal a lot here so it’s a real treat.  We all line up in the hall and sing the long family rendition of the birthday song and march into the birthday childs room.  The tray usually has the cereal and something on hand that we can stick candles into like a banana or toast, as well as any birthday cards he’s been waiting to open – usually one from Grandma and Grandpa Buer.

Max’s bed is the top of the triple bunk so getting his Captain Crunch and candles up and over the rail without tipping it on ourselves added to the fiery adventure.  Who knows how long the birthday boy waited awake anticipating the grand march in just for him.  I’m pretty sure he heard our preparations and our scramblings when we realized that we accidentally bought berry-less Captain Crunch.

Next, in most ways, it’s business as normal.  I used to try to celebrate constantly with favorite meals and activities all day long.  It wore me out and now we start it like this, have favorite dinner and a party in the evening and the birthday child is happy  knowing he doesn’t have to do any family jobs or kitchen jobs all day long.

While the boys were at skiing lessons I had time to put together a game about Max that we could play later on.  It included squares like:  Max is strong – hold a plank for 1 minute. Max is nice – hug the person to your left. And the evenings favorite, Max is cool –  put your head in the snow for 10 alligator seconds.

Only after did we realize how artistic we were.  This is Ollie on the left and Burton on the right.

Max’s special request was to make Gak.  If you haven’t tried this, it’s a must (Homemade Gak Recipe in less than 5 Minutes).  Very simple and very entertaining, especially if you or your kids like blowing large bubbles and making whoopy-cushion sounds. FYI using glitter glue doesn’t work as well…

We finished off the day with presents, cake, another round of the Max game, and a horrendous mess in the kitchen.  Most importantly, Max went to bed happy and feeling like being Max and being 10 is really something to celebrate.