FIVE things about #5

Ok- I know no one else is quite as amazed that we have a five-year-old as we are. I PROMISE this will be the last 5th birthday post.

I just need one more to document his big day happenings. LET.ME.TELL.YOU, boy howdy... did we celebrate. The fact that his big day happened to fall on his preschool graduation day, made for a VERY full day of celebrations for Mr. KJ.  So full that there were way too many pictures to even get all the good ones on the blog.  I posted a bunch more on facebook, if you are interested.

Without further ado- here are FIVE things that our FIVE-year-old did on his FIFTH birthday.

1) Celebrated during a donut-shop outing with FIVE siblings/cousins.

He opened presents (with some help from his bro, as is their own personal little tradition), picked out his favorite donuts and got lots of phone calls from adoring fans (for which his fingers were too sticky to hold the phone himself).

 

 2) Legoland Discovery Center

with FIVE of his favorite fellas (plus his favorite Momma).

 

I’d definitely recommend the LDC as a place to visit ONCE. It was a bit overpriced, very crowded. BUT it did prove a far-superior alternative to KJ’s original request (ChuckECheese) and the boys LOVED it.
(below L to R) Build-your-own race car, Earthquake demonstration, Mini city and a 4D movie.

Quick funny story about how we decided on LDC for the party locale. KJ has been talking for nearly a YEAR about his ChuckECheese party. Can I just tell you how much that place makes my skin crawl? Seriously, I have GREAT disdain. BUT, I had told him that he could choose where he went this year (since he was a whole hand old and all).  I was determined to convince him the CC was not the winner. I’ve made no less than 1028376392 alternative suggestions. All with no success. When I started talking about Legoland he was excited and I was SHOCKED that he was willing to consider something other than his plan. FAST forward to just a few days before his birthday. His good buddy/across-the-street neighbor, Katie, told me that while she had been keeping the kids, KJ told her about the upcoming festivities. And mentioned that he wasn’t sure we’d make it back in time for his graduation all the way from Legoland. She asked “Oh really? Where is Legoland?” To which he replied,

“I don’t know exactly, but its really far. I think its pretty close to Costa Rica or something like that”

YUP. Apparently the LAND part of LegoLAND really stuck- he was picturing a whole LAND of legos. SERIOUSLY. So, we had to do some fast talking and website browsing to convince him that while LDC was just a mall amusement area, it would still be super cool. Luckily, he bought it…and I don’t think he was too disappointed. He still loved the adventure of it, even if we didn’t get to fly on an airplane to get there.

Then again, any place these five-year-olds (or nearly 5) go together...is SURE to be a fun adventure!

3) THE CAKE
He designed and enjoyed a FIVE layer cake.

This actually probably deserves a whole post on its own. BUT I PROMISED there would only be one more birthday post. I did not, however, make any promises about its brevity :)

Other than the party location, the primary concern for KJ, while planning his big day, was his CAKE. Literally for MONTHS we’ve been having conversations about what his cake would be like. Often, driving along in the van, he’d holler from the backseat a new idea or specification about the cake. When all was said and done, I had to sit down with him the night before I made the cake to actually draw a diagram and be SURE I had it down. I HAVE NO IDEA where he gets this level of attention to detail…but his perfect cake was to be… “Five layers (you know, since I’m five) of Strawberry, then Chocolate, Strawberry, Chocolate, Strawberry with strawberry icing in between each layer and chocolate frosting on the outside, because if there was strawberry icing on the outside it might look pink and pink is for girls. AND it needs to have Spiderman on top” (the web was momma’s addition) Oh how I wish I could have documented all of the conversations that lead to this final conclusion, or had a picture of how he would use one hand to count to five (to be sure he didn’t say Strawberry/Chocolate/Strawberry too many times) with using the other hand to indicate the layers on top of each other. Oh, I love this boy!

4) GRADUATION

I would have SERIOUSLY been a mess about KJ turning 5 on the same day he graduated from preschool if this had been his REAL graduation from preschool. While most of his class is heading off to kindergarten, for KJ (and his Momma) this was just “practice” graduation. After a lot of thought, prayer and input from others, we’ve decided that he’ll stay another year before going to “big school”. So it wasn’t like I was all emotional quite yet. I’ll tell you what, though, if the welling of tears I got when I saw him walk in wearing his little robe (that swallowed him) and cap in the “practice” is any indication...WOAH, watch out whoever sits next to us next year- you might just see the UGLY cry. It was fun that we got to have a night with just him and some of the people that love him. He ATE IT UP.

It did make me laugh that he spent a large portion of the program in "ready position" with his hands on his knees.  For no reason.  He was like that for so long that eventually the girl next to him thought maybe that was the way they were supposed to stand, and gave it a whirl, too!

5) PICTURES
KJ had his picture taken approximately 500 times this day. And it didn’t go to his head, AT ALL (cough, cough). Here are a few of my favorites.

What a wonderful day, celebrating a wonderful 5-year-old.  Have I mentioned that he is FIVE?  If I haven't, he'll be sure to tell you next time he sees you!

ABL