Happy Birthday Ethan!

Saturday, July 3rd, our baby officially turned 5!

I have a tradition of waking our kids up on their birthdays and videoing them while singing happy birthday. The kids are all at a point now where they expect this the morning of their birthday so it's really not as mean as it sounds. Sometimes, they are laying there just waiting for me to come in.

We celebrated with a few of Ethan's little buddies the morning of his birthday. He was so excited to have his friends here. The boys immediately started playing with the Legos that Ethan had received the night before.

Once the boys became comfortable in our home, they were ready to get started. We had Ethan start with opening his gifts from his friends. They were all so cute to watch as they sat there watching Ethan open the gift that they brought. We have a tradition in our home with the friend parties. The birthday child sits with the friend that gave them the gift they are opening and then we take a picture of the two together with the gift. It's fun to look back and to see how each of our kids and their friends have grown over the years.

After gifts, we gathered a few things and took the boys out to the garage for some pinata' fun. Three boys blinded with a metal bat, let's just say...SCARY! Thankfully, I had Brenna and Alyssa there to help remind the boys that we all needed to stand back while the one blind folded swung the bat at the pinata'. They had so much fun doing this!

We collected all of the candy and moved back into the house for cake and ice cream. I wasn't sure how singing would go with the boys...not all boys like to sing. However, these boys did not hold back and "belted" out Happy Birthday. I loved it!

They loved the cupcakes and ice cream...some left the evidence on their faces! :)

 

The weather was so nice so we headed outside after they finished their cupcakes and ice cream and had some fun with bubbles. We pulled out the Bubble Rocket that Ethan had received the night before from Uncle Ryan and Auntie April. It was a huge hit with all of the boys.

The boys headed home around noon and I was able to get everything picked up and dishes done before Jason was home from work that afternoon. (Yes, my dear husband has been working 6 days a week, which means working on Saturdays.)

We took time in the afternoon to celebrate Ethan's birthday with just the five of us. The girls had each picked out gifts for Ethan. It's neat to see how they have really started to put thought into the gifts they get for people, especially for their siblings!

Alyssa gave Ethan a Buzz Lightyear...yes, Toy Story characters are his new favorite toys! It's fun to watch how his imagination go so many new directions now that he has seen the movie!

Brenna gave Ethan a set of Crayola 3D Sidewalk Chalk.

And, from Daddy and Mommy, Ethan received some fun things! We gave him a new Lego set, Toy Story cereal, a Veggie Tales Bible with a Veggie Tales bag and coloring book. And then, he got his new tent! He use to have a little "one man" tent but one of the poles broke. We have searched and searched for a replacement pole and have not been able to find one. Ethan loves having a tent because he can close the door on it and have a place of his own. We decided that we would just get him a new one for his birthday and he was so surprised! Now that Daddy is finished working weekends, or we are hoping he is, Ethan and Daddy will have camp outs in the backyard. Ethan can not wait for this!

We set the tent up in the living room so that we could sleep in it. However, he only lasted for about 30 minutes before deciding to go sleep in his own bed.

At least he looked cute in it!

Later that evening, we headed over to Uncle Deryl and Aunt Shari's for dinner with the extended Groen family. They have a beautiful new home and a great yard! It was fun to have everyone together. They were all so sweet and sang Happy Birthday to Ethan...thank you Aunt Tanya. She tricked Ethan into standing on a chair and then told everyone that it was his birthday and that's when they all started to sing. The poor boy was so embarrassed but he did very well!