What a Wonderful Life!: Birthday Celebration

It's hard to believe my little Rylan is already 5 years old! And what a fantastic 5 year old he is. This past year he has grown so much and it's been really fun to see all he's learning. Since he started preschool I feel like he's especially grown--from writing and reading to his social skills and independance (which is often times hard for mommy!)
A couple weeks before his birthday he started asking if he could have a birthday party. I thought it might be fun to invite a few friends over for games and cake and ice cream so we talked about it. Then he saw a commercial for Chuck E Cheese's and started asking if he could go there with Kade and Kaleb for his birthday. I gave him several opportunities to choose which one he wanted--a party or Chuck E Cheese's. And every time he said Chuck E Cheese's. That made it easy for me! He also asked if Kade and Kaleb could come over and fly kites with us. That was part of his birthday fun last year, too, so I guess it's now a tradition!
Since Ry's birthday was on a Sunday, we did some celebrating on Saturday. Kevin picked up the twins that afternoon and brought them to our house to play for a bit. When we were all ready to go we piled into our car and went to the park for some play time first.
I told Rylan this was his last day he could swing in the baby swings because 5 year olds have to learn how to pump in the big boy swings. (Partly because he really does need to learn but also because it's hard for me to lift him up into the baby swing. My growing belly gets in the way of that heavy lifting!) He took full advantage and wanted to swing in the baby swings for quite some time. We finally convinced all the boys to have races on the slides.

On your mark, get set, GO!!

After some park time we headed into the field to fly our kites. I don't know why we didn't bring one for each of the kidlets. Two kites just wasn't quite enough and the boys who were not getting a turn weren't too interested in just standing there. I think we only had our kites in the air for about 20 minutes before they were ready to go home to get a drink. I guess if this really is going to be a tradition we'll have to remember to bring more kites next year!

I'm pretty sure that's Kaleb out there with Rylan flying Batman.

We stopped at Wendy's on our way home for some yummy frosties and then had some apple juice once we got home. Kade was a bit tired and wanted a blanket and pillow so he could lay down on the couch for a nap! He laid down for about 15 minutes but the rest of us were too loud so he decided to go play.

Tami picked up the twins on their way up to Chuck E Cheese's since our car wouldn't fit us all. The Holmans were nice enough to join us for a night of less than desirable pizza and games. All the kids had fun and the adults did, too! In fact, Kevin got to play shooting games with Garren while Tami and I got to chit chat. We saved enough coins to play our hubbies in some games, too and guess what?! I totally beat Kev in Skee ball! Woot Woot!

Ry ended his fun day by opening a present from the goofy Holmans.

A Fire Truck! Because Rylan doesn't show much enthusiasm, Tami felt bad and thought he didn't like his gift. She kept saying he could take it back and get something else. But when we got in the car and opened it up for him he said "Mom, will you call aunt Tami?" When I asked 'why' he said "Because this fire truck is the most eskiting fire truck ever!" And it really is a cool fire truck. You can fill it up with water and squirt it out the fire hose!