His 11th Birthday

Our Kyler is eleven. 

We're so proud of this boy. 

This boy who loves posing for pictures.

We celebrated his birthday at home after picking his aunt Jenny up from the airport. We played Harry Potter Trivia games, ate a Hogwarts themed mixed up meal, sang happy birthday over Texas sheet cake, opened presents, and then watched the 6th Harry Potter movie.

If you haven't done a mixed up meal before they are really fun. And an Allen family tradition. You plan your menu and then assign names to each item. Make sure you also assign a name to each piece of your silverware. Your guests look over the menu of funny names and write down their orders. They choose three items from the list for each of three courses. 

Once all orders have been placed, you use your fancy little cheat sheet and fill each person's plate course by course. Sometimes you win (like when Layla ordered beans, a spoon, and a cup of juice), and sometimes you lose (like when Kyler got a plate with a little pepper sprinkled on, a knife, and a fork). You may eat with your hands or have to wait patiently until you get to a course in which you ordered the good stuff. Napkins are always available, you have to return everything you ordered at the end of each course (no keeping your fork to use again), and after the three courses, if you are still hungry, you are welcome to serve yourself whatever food you'd like. I was too busy serving plates to get any pictures of the eating of the meal.

We love our 11 year old!