The celebrating

Andrew had a great birthday! He was completely overwhelmed by  the outpouring of love he received from so many people!

His first birthday gift came a few weeks early, when a new friend sent him an early gift that blew all our minds, and knocked him off his feet! Literally!

It was an Xbox One! 

Oh my stars!

He declared that this made him a "real teenager now!" -So, glad he isn't a fake one anymore. ; )  

He's had such a blast with some awesome guys, who unfortunately don't live near us. They can now, game together and talk in the headset. -That is amazing to me! 

We all knew that his best friend S, was planning to surprise him with a record player, 

(his dream gift)

so I decided that vinyls were the THEME for this birthday. And I dearly love a theme! : )

And that is why Joy and I ended up in a creepy thrift store one Saturday morning, so that I could find some old records to MELT. Thanks, Pinterest, it was fun!

 Our dog has since taken a bite out of this funky looking bowl, and that was without the candy in it! LOL

Bookends!

It is an awesome record player! The sound is incredible!

Our gifts to him were vinyls. 

 He got the biggest kick out of this one from Zac. -Lots of inside jokes connected to it. : )

He and I tried to have Hubby's electric guitar fixed for him for his birthday, but the 'fix' didn't solve the problem and he was so disappointed. 

Then I snuck it to a dear friend, 

who had her dad take a look at it and he was able to fix it! AHHH!!!!!! It was the sweetest surprise! He was absolutely shocked! Thank you, D and Mr. W!!!!

These sweet kids, who love him so much, walked into our house that night, and all handed him gifts! Right there on the spot. They were so excited! Cutest thing ever!

 Then they took him out to dinner and came back to our house for cake.

And the next night, we had a family party. We went out for pizza at the same little pizza joint that we've been going to since Zac was in a high chair! : ) 

 Zac's in-laws joined us. Then we came back to our house for lots of games of spoons!

 It was a fun night even though I didn't remember to capture it with a single photo! 

It was a Happy 17th! 

Now all of our kids have had their first birthdays without their Dad. -Whew! We made it! God has been so good to us!

 And we've already been through our first Thanksgiving and Christmas, so things should only get easier, right?

~Becky