Happy birthday Carlitos!
Well, I had no idea how emotional my oldest son’s 18th birthday was going to be for me. I spent most of the early part of the day writing him a two page letter. One of the gifts that I had been putting together for him was supposed to be 18 balloons waiting for him when he got home from school. Each balloon was going to have a picture and a letter from someone tied to the end of the string. I cried a few times while I was writing my letter and looking at pictures of Carlitos and thinking about how much he has grown up.
I ended up with only 8 balloons, as my helium tank ran out. I had waited until 30 minutes before school was out to fill up the balloons….so there was no time to get more. It worked out, as I did not have 18 letters for him. I had planned out this idea back in January. When it came down to pulling it all together, I was busy with my training and Carlos’ trip and I didn’t email people until Sunday evening, which only gave people 4 days to respond, and there were a lot of people who I did not include for the sake of timing. I didn’t want to make anyone feel badly, if they were not able to do it in time. Some the letters I doubled up on the balloons and I also attached the birthday cards that people sent him and I printed out pictures to go with the cards. Either way you decide to do this gift, I think it works out nicely.
Carlitos opened all the letters and cards. He really liked the pictures. He read us some of the shorter letters, but saved the long ones to read on his own time. My letter was the longest, then Carlos’ and Josh Pratt’s (carlitos’ scout master)
Afterwards, Carlitos was showing me all the birthday comments he had on his Facebook page. He just started an account on FB earlier this week. Ashley had been sitting across from us and she was playing around with my camera and captured this pic of Carlitos and I.
This is another gift I was putting together for Carlitos. He was going to be having some friends over later in the evening, and I thought a “soda can” cake would be fun. It was pretty easy to make. I cut 3 circles out of some cardboard boxes. The first tier holds 10 cans, the second tier holds 7 cans and the top-tier holds 1 can. 18 cans for my eighteen year old! I tied each tier with some curling ribbon and topped the soda can cake with a bow. His favorite candy is Reese’s, as you can see from the Reese’s Valentine’s gifts that I made for him and his brother earlier in the week. You can read about them by clicking here. So, I added some Reese’s to the soda can cake for the finishing touch. Ashley came in my room to help out. Now that she is getting older, she really enjoys helping with projects when she has the chance.
Here is the finished soda can cake. I had felt rushed, since it was already after school and I had not put it together yet. One other thing you can do to make it look a little nicer and to add some more color is to wrap the cardboard circles with wrapping paper. Making this was actually kind of fun and they look pretty cool was you are done. Last year for Jose’s birthday, I made a Happy Birthday Food Cake for him and his friends to enjoy.
After the presents were ready to go, we took Carlitos out to a birthday dinner. His and Jose’s friend Jonny came along with us. We got home 15 minutes before the party was supposed to start, and there were already two kids sitting on the front steps!
Once all the kids were there, we did cake and presents. One cheesecake, which Carlitos picked out with me at the store the night before. The other was a small chocolate cake that I whipped up the day before as well….just in case someone didn’t like cheese cake. The other presents we gave Carlitos included: cologne, a dvd (Daddy’s home) and a gift card to buy Daddy’s Home 2 when it comes out next week, 2 shirts, a lamp, a wooden sign that has the scripture from Proverbs 3 written on it, and last but not least, a nice birthday card for an 18-year-old that had 18 $10 bills in it……one for each precious year of his life. (That last gift was my husband’s idea!)
Next up, the FIFA 18 tournament! The boys like getting together and setting up a playoff bracket. We had two TV’s and two Xbox consoles set up out in the livingroom. That way, 4 kids could be playing at once. Carlitos had picked out a prize for the winner, which was an orange fanta and a pack of Reese’s (of course lol!). The winner ended up being the same person who won at Jose’s birthday party FIFA tournament last year! Their good old friend, Myhles (the boy on the far left wearing shorts).
All in all, I really do hope that Carlitos had a good 18th birthday. I love him so much. He is a good son and a good brother. I look forward to see what the future holds for him, but one thing is for sure and that is that he will always be my baby….no matter how old he gets!
