Birthday Parties

We had three birthdays in one week: Adele's, Jude's, and Stephanie's. Jude was the only one who got a real, organized party. He had been planning it for months, and changed the theme like five times -- from Minecraft to Ninja Turtles to Star Wars to Terraria to (finally) "Video Games" in General. It was a good compromise that covered all his previous ideas. He and Josh left lists of detailed, made-up party games around the house. There was a lot of pressure to incorporate all his ideas, but in the end, he was too busy being excited to notice where I fell short. 

Grandma Cheri was in town for all the birthdays. She was an excellent lovely assistant.

With all these boys, it was pure chaos and noise. A few of them were overwhelmed and watched quietly from the side. Jude ran around barking orders at everyone, as was his birthday boy prerogative. His emotions were on overload, which triggered spontaneous hugs and screeches.

We made balloon animals, played a balloon toss game, fought with balloon swords, and went outside for the no-hands donut game. I think I played this game at every one of my birthday parties growing up.

Jude was really excited about his birthday cake. He told me exactly what he wanted and directed every step of the decorating process, 

I love how kids' faces look so concerned when a cool cake gets cut and destroyed.

We played video game music and the boys danced stop-and-go style. Which morphed into a Matt attack.

After opening presents, everyone got Skylanders masks and a shot at breaking the pinata.

It's a Death Star. It's what Jude wanted, and both boys helped make it. I love that homemade pinatas are becoming a tradition for us.

Matt was not even a tiny bit worried about holding that pinata at arms length while five-year-olds swung a bat at it.

James ~ Jude ~ Casey ~ Zeke ~ Liam ~ Oliver ~ Alex ~ Josh

The next day we had a family party to celebrate all the birthdays.

Little Princess Adele was so excited about her presents.

Besides our family and Grandma Cheri, we invited my cousin Clifford and his girls, Reese and Maeve, my cousin Trevor, and Steph and Teague.

She was so mad that we couldn't open this packaging fast enough. 

Jude got Jenga, Boggle, Minecraft mini-figures, a Minecraft Lego set, and a BB8 robot.

Adele got Disney Princess figurines, the movie Frozen, a baby stroller, and brand new crayons.

And Steph got a bowl of succulents and some bath bombs. 

 Birthday cake was a pan of amazing mint brownies. We required lots of candles.

  

 Adele got a really fun birthday package from Grandma Sara. The best part was the ponies. 

Jude Turns Five

Jude finally turned five, after many months of anticipation and discussion about his "almost" birthday. He loves so many things SO MUCH that it was impossible to pick just one theme for his party, and he had big plans for every detail. This boy is really excited about life.

Jude is learning to read, and is a great artist and musician. He draws me pictures every day and sings while he practices the piano.

. He likes to be my helper at home when Josh is at school, especially with cooking and cleaning. He is a very good friend and does not hurt feelings. He loves one-on-one time and Star Wars shirts. 

Josh might be Jude's favorite person. Josh teaches him all kinds of big words and fun games. He also teaches him the art of big brother manipulation. They are usually really good playmates.

He likes to watch tween superhero shows on Netflix. Power Rangers, especially. But he is also hypnotized by Adele's baby shows like Daniel Tiger and Word World. 

He is full of every emotion.  He has strong opinions and is still a persistent negotiator. Right now that lands him in time out a lot, but hopefully it will serve him well when he's older.

Crying real tears because he was so sad to give this present to Josh's friend instead of keeping it for himself.

We drive by a cemetery on the way to preschool, and Jude asks to drive through it almost every time. He really likes to look at the headstones and talk about when the dead people are going to come back alive. I get so many questions about zombies and resurrection that I don't know how to answer! 

Jude currently bites his fingernails badly and has his hands in his mouth whenever he's sitting still. He even started biting his grubby little toenails. I've gotta get him something sanitary to chew on!

He is such a home-body that I have to BEG him to let me take him on fun outings. We usually negotiate for a good thirty minutes before I can talk him into going to the zoo or the beach. And if I try to change his after-school plans without enough notice, he goes into full freak out mode.

He takes his shirt off whenever he's hot, wherever we are. And Adele follows suit.

Jude is still making his own food creations on the regular. Recent experiments include peanut butter and jelly and bananas and strawberries on grilled cheese, dipping black olives in yogurt, and spreading frosting on Ritz crackers. He is still kind of picky when I make real people food, but is getting much better about trying at least one bite.

He is my chocolate lover. One of them, anyway. My kids don't really have a choice but to love chocolate.

Jude asks to snuggle me on a daily and nightly basis. When he watches a show while Adele naps and I work on the computer, he sits right up next to me and leans closer and closer until I have to elbow him away so I can use the mouse. He is such a cuddler.

Jude's relationship with Adele is complex. She does everything he does and is a great little shadow. He is very affectionate with her and loves to be the leader. But at the same time, he pesters her at every opportunity. He takes her toys and shmoozes her into giving him her snacks, and half the time this is the scene I'm looking at:

Jude and Adele love to drink "chocolate milk" (aka my post-workout protein shakes). Little piggies.

Sometimes, in certain light, his hair looks like it's keeping a tiny bit of red in it. 

Jude has said that he aspires to be a diamond miner when he grows up (like Josh), but recently informed us that he also wants to be a lumberjack carpenter. And I realized that I will be perfectly happy for him if that's what he becomes. Because when he is genuinely excited about something, there's not a happier face in the world.

I cannot wait to see what kind of grown up this little firecracker becomes someday!