5!!

Finn turned 5 on Friday October 17th.  Since school was out that day, we had a party that morning at House of Bounce.  We invited friends from both church and school, and everyone seemed to have a good time.  One of Finn's friends needed a ride to the party so he came over early that morning and played with the boys while I finished getting everything ready to go.  (It actually turned out to be really helpful.)  We arrived early for the party to get the party room set up and to start heating up the hot dogs in the crockpot.  Once the kids arrived they had a good hour or so to play before we headed up for hot dogs, chips, and pickles.  And then there was cake, ice cream, and presents.  I was grateful for the friends who stayed to help with the party.  The last time we visited House of Bounce Bree wanted nothing to do with it, but she has since changed her mind.  She was begging to go down the slide nearly the whole party.  And since she can't climb up by herself, she was roping me and Reid into doing it with her.  It was a tiring day!

Despite my repeated headbanging with cake making, I was convinced I could make a cake.  Finn chose a simple cake, or so it seemed.  He wanted a "Pinata Cake" (a cake with candy on the inside, like a pinata).  And when we went to the store he picked out a tie dye cake mix.  It sounded simple enough.  I even bought the Wilton pans to make the cake just to make sure it wasn't too hard.  Well, four cakes later, I had yet to successfully get a cake out of the pan without it crumbling to bits.  So, at 4:30 the day before Finn's birthday we ran to Wal-Mart to see what we could do.  There was a nice young lady behind the bakery counter who happened to share a birthday with Finn.  He wasn't super excited about the cakes that were out on display (but we would have made one work), so she went into the freezer to see what else was ready.  There were some great choices back there, but Finn lit up with he saw the SpiderMan cake.  So, SpiderMan it was.  Thank goodness for Wal-Mart!

My pretty bowls for the tie dye cake.

It turned out really great, as long as it stayed in the pan.  Grrrrr......

When we got home from the party, Finn's friend stayed for a bit longer and so the boys opened all of the toys and played with them while I unpacked the car and Bree napped.  Finn got a lot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle stuff, which was funny because he has never really watched that or shown much interest in that.  But he was really happy with his gifts.

For dinner that night we had Arby's and then opened presents from the family.  Finn got a Jake and the Neverland Pirates game from his grandma and then a skateboard from us.  He was so excited!

Finn got a nice scratch on his face where his chin connected with the velcro wall at House of Bounce

Playing the Jake game the next morning

It was a great birthday.  And Finn had such a fun time.  We are so blessed to have him in our family.  He sure brings a spirit full of energy and excitement to our house.  He challenges and pushes us all to keep up with him.  I feel so blessed to be his mom.  He teaches me every single day.  Happy Birthday Finn!