Can it Really Be?

Last Monday, April 5th,  was Jarem's 5th birthday!  Can it be that my baby is really 5?  I think it was a bittersweet day for me.  Of course I'm happy for him to be growing and maturing, but realizing that my youngest is going off to school this fall and leaving me is a little hard to take, and this birthday is just a reminder of that. :(  I tried to make it a happy occasion for him though.  He was very excited to be old enough to go to school, and he thought that he could just quit preschool and move on to Kindergarten right now since he's old enough.

Jarem was a lucky boy because the day of his birthday Eric had off work.  I had a PTO meeting, so Eric took Jarem out to a special birthday breakfast at IHOP.  Jarem enjoyed that.  Later that afternoon/evening, we celebrated his birthday with the other kids and opened presents.

As is tradition, he got to choose what he wanted for his birthday dinner.  He picked macaroni and cheese, baked beans, and grilled cheese sandwiches.

He also picked his cake.  When I asked him what kind of cake he wanted, he said, "a tractor cake".  I asked him if he'd seen one somewhere that he liked, and he said that he saw it in the same magazine as his dragon cake last year.  I was really surprised that he still remembered, but we were able to locate the magazine and sure enough, there it was.  It was a pretty easy one, so that worked out well.  He was happy with the way it turned out.

Eric lighting the candles

Excited to make a wish

Blowing out the candles...he had a hard time remembering how to blow them out.  He would get his cheeks really puffed up with air (below) and then the air would somehow fizzle out.  We had to light them twice, but finally he was able to get them all (not in the same breath though).  He was cute trying though.

Now onto the presents:  Jarem loves Toy Story and they have a new collection of Legos from Toy Story.  This was the speeder car that Woody drove in the 2nd movie (I think).  The first thing Jarem said when he looked at it was, "I can't do this cause I'm not 6" (it was recommended for ages 6-12).  He liked it though.

Eric encouraging him that he could do it with a little help.

This is a lego set of Buzz's star command spaceship.  Jarem was excited about this one also.

He asked for Transformers, so we got him some.  He got Bumblebee and Optimus Prime.  I was surprised that he knew their names as he pulled them out.

Alex helping unpackage the Transformers.

In car form now...

Going along with the Toy Story theme, he got a Bucket O Soldiers just like in Toy Story.  This has probably been his favorite gift.

Complete with two parachuters too

Eric gave the kids the lowdown on the proper way to launch the parachutes.  They found that it was especially fun to drop them off our upstairs opening and drop them down to the main level.  In the picture, Tessa is at the top making the drop.  Jarem is excited about catching it.  They did this for quite some time.  Sorry about the poor lighting.

Jesikah's card to Jarem...she made a Super Smash Bros card because Jarem likes that game, and inside the little plastic package were 4 characters from Super Smash Bros that she had made on cardstock (closer pic below)

Included with the characters were several "play with me any game of your choice coupons" and a nice note.  Jarem was excited about that and has already used one.  He appreciated it.

I've always wanted to get TinkerToys for my kids, and I figured this was my last chance.  However, Jesikah talked me into this plastic variety of TinkerToys.  I think I like the real thing better though.  When Jarem opened them, Eric asked him if he knew what they were.  He said with enthusiasm, "I don't know what they are, but I like them!"

Along with Jesikah's card, she gave Jarem 2 littlest pet shops...a frog and a turtle.

Jarem got to choose his piece of cake, and he chose the front scoop of the tractor.  This was the most coveted piece because it was made out of a twinkie.  Unfortunately for everyone else, he only ate one bite and then decided he didnt like it and the rest got soaked in ice cream until it finally got thrown away.