Make A Wish!

Jose's 6th Birthday was Sunday. It was also the day chosen by the Make A Wish crew to....well, Make his wish come true! We first took Jose to Make a Wish back in March. He had been referred by his oncology doctor and the planning began. He didn't have any real wish, so it took some prying. Finally he admitted that he LOVED Shark Boy & Lava Girl and really wanted to meet them. His only idea of what to do with them...? Have Ice Cream! :) Sad, but cute. Even since Jose left I've talked with Valarie at Make a Wish to fine tune the details of his big day. Since I had him longer and knew him well. They had so many crazy and good ideas, but I just helped steer them in a direction Jose would love. He is a very SHY boy. He hates attention and will shut down if there is too much attention on him. That was the biggest concern of the day. So we had to plan fun stuff all around him and nothing with him in the center.
A big excursion limo picked him and his foster family up along with his 5 siblings and brought them to the Rave theater at Town Center where his dad, aunt and us were waiting with non other than Shark Boy & Lava Girl! He was super shy walking in because of the attention, but it was still fun. They escorted us into a theater to see the move: Shark Boy & Lava Girl. They had a big cart with popcorn bags, fruit snacks and soda with endless refills. My kids were in heaven! At the end of the movie, two power rangers stormed in asking for Jose. It was so exciting for all the kids. Jose of course shrunk in his seat, but they coaxed him down and had all the kids follow them to the party.

They made balloon swords for all the kids and taught them to fight like real power rangers. ;) "Pinky" the clown was an awesome face painter. She did some amazing things on some of the kids and in like seconds! Jose got a shark up his arm that was super cool, I just couldn't get him to let me take a picture of it. Each kid got to decorate a bag to keep all their goodies from the day in. They played "fish" and got lots of fun toys & candies, They built volcano's and set them off (with vinegar I'm guessing) and ran around crazy having a blast!

We went into another private room to have lunch: pizza, mac & cheese, chicken fingers & fries. It was decorated with the life size card board cut outs from the movie and balloons galore. After we ate "Pinky" did a magic show that the little ones just LOVED. The adults were cracking up at their expressions! So funny!! Jose then began to open presents and we had his birthday cake.

We returned to the 1st party room for more fun & games and to hit the pinata. Of course, Jose refused to take a turn. All the Make A Wish workers were so bummed he wasn't taking full advantage of the day. I had to remind them, he is loving it! He just doesn't want attention. The less he gets the more involved he'll get- at HIS pace. I finally asked Jose if he'd like to be the one to help pull the pinata up to trick his cousin when he swung. He loved that idea and ran right over to do it. It was fun to see him smiling and getting in on the action!

I know Jose loved the day. I just hope he doesn't have any regrets later for hiding when cameras were out. He's not in a lot of the pictures from HIS day. He REFUSED to be in them! LOL But it was an awesome 4 1/2 hours and the Make A WISH team is amazing. They have the best job ever!

At the end of the day, Jose & his darling siblings loaded back into their fatty limo to head home. He was spoiled with gifts and will have this memory all his lifetime. Happy 6th Birthday Jose- We'll always love you!!