Last weekend, we had a birthday party for our youngest son (yes, this post is a little late - ha).  We decided to go with a detective theme, since both boys are into spy gear, detective stories, playing the game of "Clue", etc.  Here is a copy of the invitations that I sent out for the party:

(front)

(inside)

As soon as the guests arrived, the boys and their friends played outside with silly string.  Then we ate the usual pizza and drank pop (all Ward birthdays are the same - ha).  I always let our boys choose what they want for cake and the last few years, they have requested raspberry swirl angelfood cake.  I got this recipe from an Amish cookbook and it is delicious!  So, we had the cake with neapolitan ice cream.

After we devoured the food (everyone must have been starved!  ha), we played a game called "Mystery Photos".  I had found 20 different close-up pictures on the web (http://www.mysteryphotos.com) that I glued on individual cards with "Clue #1", Clue #2", etc. written on them.  We passed them around to everyone and they had to write down what they thought the item was in the photo.  It was much harder than you would think.  Here's an example:

(shell of a tortoise)

The one with the most correct answers won a prize.  Norman's older brother won with 12 correct items.  Most of the others got 6-8 correct.  Maybe I should have chosen easier pictures. 

The second game was just for the boys (I mean, instead of the parents.  Ha!  There were no girls at the party.  It's not that we don't like girls.  It's just that... well... we only have boys.  )  Anyway, Norman made up a treasure hunt with clues.  Each boy got different clues taking them to different ending points.  There was a little mix-up when two boys had clues leading them to different trash cans, but they went to the same one.    They all eventually ended up with their individual prizes at the end, though.

After that, we were ready for the present-opening ceremony.  Here's the greedy... er, I mean, happy... birthday boy:

He got some really fun things, but this specific birthday card surprised us all:

His 11-year-old brother gave him this card that he had made himself.  It even rhymes!  Here is what is says:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

9+1 SPANKINGS YOU'LL GO THROUGH!

YOU DO AS YOU PLEASE!

AND...

YOU SMELL LIKE LIMBURGER CHEESE!

Wow!  This really brings tears to my eyes!  What a loving brother!   

So... did our newly-turned 9-year-old have a successful birthday party?  Sure thing!  Just look at the below picture:

Hey, wait!  That's not the birthday boy!  That's his dad and his uncle... playing with his gifts! 

What happened to our son???

Hmmm... Is there a detective in the house?