Zombies v/s Army Men with a bit of Lego Star Wars: Tyler Turns 12

I honestly thought we would be done with birthday parties by middle school…that the invite-everyone-from-your-whole-grade-and-go-to-Chuck-E-Cheese celebration would morph into a buddy-or-two stay-up-all-night sleepover deal or even a just-ask-for-a-wad-of-money-from-Mom-and-Dad-and-call-it-good. And I’m sure it will eventually. It’s headed that way. But I neglected to figure in that middle-ground. That year or two of ages that simply cannot quite let go of the party.

My Tyler turned 12 last week. I remember well the day he was born. I was a few days overdue and big as a barn. My mom came up and was determined to “walk” him out of me. And she did by bedtime. Tyler was born and I braced myself. I was famous for saying (and meaning) “All babies are ugly”. And when they handed him to me, I gasped in utter astonishment. “He’s not ugly!” And I meant it. I’m sure the nurse thought there was something inherently wrong with me.

And now he’s this big man-boy, 12 years old in middle school, growing in independence, with his own ideas and way of going about things.

Hence the party.

Tyler gets along with a wide variety of people at church and school, but he asked me to invite a core of friends that had a common interest. Or that he could boss around. Anyway, the agenda was clear and the requests were precise.

I want you to make me a Lego Star Wars cake, half chocolate with red icing and half white with blue icing. And then we are going to make a zombie/army man movie so I’ll need some face paint and fake blood and camouflage clothes and cardboard guns and black paper to decorate with.

Oh, and did I mention his friends, like him, all go to Shiloh Christian?

Awesome.

Jesus would totally have had a Lego Star Wars cake and made a zombie movie, right?

But it was so much fun. Really. The boys were all so cute all dressed up and posing for pictures. Tyler took charge and rallied them around and they really did shoot a movie. Afterward they came inside, ate cake and played some sort of horrible bloody shoot-em-up game on the PS3 that all the boys his age seem to be playing. I don’t think anyone wanted to go home.

I was afraid all the boys (and parents) might think having a party for a sixth grader was somehow a little ridiculous. But nobody seemed to feel that way. And my guess is we’re not done because at the very end, I heard one of them say…

Same place, same time next year…right?

Zombie v/s Army Men part 2. Oh yeah.