Minute To Win It: Sam's 9th Birthday

In June, Sam turned 9. He chose a Minute To Win It game show theme for his party. I kept the games a secret from him- no practice prior to the big day. Dad came home from work to help me with the party, to be the timekeeper, and whatnot. And to whoop up on all the little boys in the challenges. We had two complete no-shows to the party, but Sam's the type of kid who prefers just a few good friends (don't know where he got that from), so he wasn't bothered a bit by the small group and it certainly made the party that much easier to manage.

The boys competed in 9 games. First up was Stack It Up. In this event, each contestant had 1 minute to stack 25 pennies, using only 1 hand. This game was a breeze.

Next was Suck It Up. Sucking through a straw and using only one hand, the boys had to transfer 20 M&M's from a plate to a cup. Win or lose, they got to eat their M&M's when they were finished. 

In Movin' On Up, they were given a stack of cups with 1 single cup that was a different color than the rest. The goal was to move that one cup, in 1 minute, from the top of the stack all the way through to the top again, moving only 1 cup at a time.
Scoop It Up was very challenging. I can't remember if anyone actually completed it in 1 minute, but I do remember Thomas was the best at it. The object was to scoop and transfer ping pong balls with a plastic spoon, held with the mouth and with no use of the hands, from one bowl to another.
Nutstacker used a wooden skewer, threaded with hexnuts to single-handedly stack them on their sides.

For Stack Attack, the objective was to make a pyramid with cups and then take the cups all back down again, returning them to a single stack, all in 1 minute. 

Defy Gravity involved keeping 2 balloons from touching the ground for the full minute. Junk In the Trunk was hilarious, but unfortunately, I only have video. For it, each contestant wore a tissue box filled with ping pong balls on their backside. They had to shake, jiggle, dance, or otherwise move to get all the balls out. 

And finally, Elephant March required them to wear a pair of pantyhose on the head with a ball dangling in the foot, like an elephant trunk. They had to swing the trunk to knock down water bottles. 

The games were a lot of fun and kept everyone very entertained for the entire duration of the party. There were a few very competitive party-goers and there may have been a few tears shed when attempts were failed. But I think everyone had a great time. Thomas rocked several events and was the overall winner. His prize was a king-sized cookies and cream candy bar. 

For refreshment, we had root beer floats and chocolate cake covered in M&M's. 

 Sam is a pretty fantastic kid. He is bright, loving, pretty self-sufficient, reliable, and fun. I love that he will get lost in books for hours. When he gets a new book from the library, often times he will find a quiet spot and finish the entire book in a matter of hours. He has always devoured books. It amazes me that the books he actually owns, he will read over and over again. Anything he can get his hands on, he will read, whether it is a book on weird animal facts, a book about ancient civilizations, a lengthy series like Harry Potter, or goofy chapter books with crude elementary school humor. Reading is also one of his flaws. He gets so lost in those books, at home and at school, that he never even hears when someone is giving him instructions.
Sam is so easy to please. He never asks for much. When picking out a new backpack for Nathanael in preparation for the next school year, Sam asked if he could just use his same one from 3rd grade, recognizing that it is still in good shape. I love that. He can entertain himself for hours with just his Pokemon cards. Sometimes he even creates his own Pokemon cards. He even gets Nathanael and Claire involved in his Pokemon games, which often times are just a creation from his own mind, not the real Pokemon card game. Playing Pokemon by the book he reserves for Dad. He LOVES when Dad will play him in a game. Sam is not a very outdoorsy boy, he doesn't like the heat. But he does enjoy participating in sports, riding his bike (he got a new one for his birthday), and swimming.
Sam gets quirkiness from his genes. He dissects everything he eats. It's as if he's never heard of a fork. Each bite is picked apart and inspected before he eats it. He has sheets of paper hidden under his bed and dresser with made-up sports players' names or lately it's Pokemon names. I'm not sure what these papers are- some sort of match-ups, competitions of some sort. But he always hides them from me when I walk in. I wish he were more confident about himself that he didn't feel like he had to hide his creativity from me, but I'm certain I would have done the same thing at his age.
Sam is so loving. He is very affectionate. He doesn't like to hug people outside of our immediate family. He doesn't like hugging aunts, uncles, grandparents. He doesn't even like hugging Nathanael. But he sure loves affection from Mom and Dad and Little Sis. He loves to cuddle. He will often express his love. I love that about him.

Sam's birthday interview (not many changes from last year, by the way):

What makes you happiest? Pokemon cards

What is one thing you would like to try this year? Going down the hill on my bike without using my brakes a million times

What is your favorite thing to do? Play Pokemon and Xbox

What do you want to be when you grow up? A basketball player

What is you favorite food? ice cream

Who do you like to spend time with? Mom and Dad

What do you do really well? Play basketball

What are you afraid of? The dark

Who is your best friend? Tyler

What do you like best about your family? They are fun

What do you love to learn about? Anything really, as long as it's not at school.

Where do you like to go? Target, for Pokemon cards

What is your favorite book? Big Nate

If you had one wish, what would it be? A million more wishes