Celebrating Jay

Jay had a nice prolonged birthday this year, with family festivites on his actual birthday, and a party two days later. He lived it up. Or I should say, he Lego'd it up. The boy loves Legos. So a birthday with Lego presents was Jay-heaven. He was so excited on his birthday that at one point he told me "I love myself right now." I thought his way of explaining how much he likes having a birthday was perfect.

Jay woke up at 6am on his birthday, and instantly woke Rose up. They both ran out and found the streamers that Jeff and I hung in the hallway. Jeff and I laid in bed listening to all the streamers fall down as Jay and Rose ran back and forth through them. Then we rolled out of bed for some present-opening. Mornings for me are much better than they were a few weeks ago, so I managed to take some pictures of the present-opening from my chair.

 

Jay requested that we put his presents in the castle tent, so that's where he found them. We had him bring them out so we could all watch them opened. We gave Jay Legos, books, and a stomp rocket.

 

 

 

 

After presents, Jeff went to work, I slowly started my day, Jay got right to work on a Lego creation, and Rose read his birthday books. When Jay got stuck on the Lego instructions, he brought them over to me for assistance. We slaved on that blasted Lego tow truck for the rest of the morning, finally finishing it at noon. Whew! When I ordered it, I had no idea it was going to be so big and complex--the box said ages 5 and up. There were 72 steps to build the darn thing! And it kept falling apart. It was a long morning for me, but I did have fun sitting and talking with Jay while helping him do something he enjoys, even if I don't love following intricate directions and prying apart sharp Lego pieces quite as much as he does.

 

 

 

Since Jay had a soccer game the night of his birthday, I made him birthday lunch instead of birthday dinner: homemade mac and cheese. It turned out quite well. We served it up with the green Pastasaurus. Chomp.

 

 

 

You can't have birthday lunch without birthday cake! When I asked Jay what kind of cake he wanted this year, he said "you can choose, Mommy." Seriously? Ok, I chose the easy way out--no cake adventures for me this time around! I bought an angel food cake from the bakery and served it up with whipped cream and strawberries. As usual, we had birthday candles and cake after lunch and then again after dinner.

 

 

 

Minor candle blowing technique adjustment

 

 

Angel food cake is hard to break apart with a fork. So why worry about it?

 

 

After Jay's soccer game, they gave all the kids and families hotdogs for dinner. I gave mine to Jeff. They even had a bounce house set up which of course Jay and Rose had to get in line for. After that, we had the family over for birthday cake.

Then on Friday afternoon, we had Jay's birthday party at Sunnyview Park. Ironic, because it was cloudy and WINDY. At least we weren't hot. A few of Jay's cute friends came and they played on the playground and then we had cupcakes. My parents drove 3 hours to come to the party too! My Mom brought the cupcakes. I was so spoiled with this birthday--no baking for me! It was fun to have Grama Meri and Grampa Charley at the party. Grampa Dan, Grama Leslie, and Steph came too, so we had quite the nice family gathering. I love living nearby so much family! The party ended when the wind turned into a dust storm. We all packed up fast and drove home amidst gale-force dusty winds and sporadic fat raindrops. Of course a few hours later, the sun came back out. Ah well. Planning an outdoor party was never a sure thing.

 

 

 

The wind prevented us from doing candles, but Jay was ok with that. Most of the kids ate their cupcakes top to bottom--my Mom's frosting is that good. They all ran around with little brown goatees on their chins afterwards. Ha!

After cupcakes, there were presents. Jay was overjoyed to receive some Star Wars Legos, a balloon popping game, and some money. I think his life is complete with that Yoda Lego minifigure.

 

 

Near the end of the party, the clown we hired arrived. Just kidding--Jeff stopped by on his way home from work. The kids flocked around. You can see the dust picking up along the horizon in the background.

 

Happy Birthday to Jay. It was a fun one! He's officially a 5-year-old now.

 

 

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