Happy Birthday Nate!

How in the world did my baby turn 5? However it happened, it did. I went back and forth about a party this year, but finally decided that full term or not, this would be the last bit of "all about me" time for Nate for quite a while, so we ought to go for it. We went small this year, and only invited the original playgroup from when he was born. I think that there only ended up being 5 or so kids there. It was very nice to have just a small party for him. Much less stress on me.
The kids just played the whole time, inside, outside, upstairs, downstairs, and the mommies just sat at the table and snacked. It was lovely. I asked Nate if he wanted to play some games, and he said no, he just wanted to play with toys.
We did have cupcakes, as per Nate's request. He loves cupcakes. Graham got a bit dirty.

Pretty exciting!

That night he was able to open the presents from mom and dad. He got Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. That was very exciting.

He got swords and shields. Those were pretty exciting as well. He and Graham like to pretend to be pirates.

And he got a Lego Toy Story 3 train. When he saw this, he said, it's what I always want! He was really excited about all of the presents he got from us.

It only took me about 2 1/2 hours to put together the Lego train. We have managed to only misplace a handfull of pieces in the past week. Although Graham always plays with the Engine, which is the most breakable, so I put that together about a million times a day.

The next day we went to Grandma's house, and we had a joint party for Nate and Aunt Erin. It was her birthday the previous week, and she flew into town on Nate's birthday.

Nate didn't want to blow out the candles though. I think it had to do with all of the new cousins staring at him.

On Sunday we went to Grammy and Grandad's house to celebrate with the Markhams. (Yes, this is the longest birthday celebration ever!) Grammy and Aunt Cammi created a "treasure hunt" where Nate had to follow some strings and ribbons to find his present. It took him downstairs and outside...

Around the corner, to find a bike!

This is Nate's first 2 wheeler. He was very excited about it.

He put the helmet on, and was a natural! He did really well considering it really was about the first time he's ever done it.

So happy birthday Nate! Now you're a big 5 year old. You'll be a Kindergartner this year. You get to have another sibling this year. You'll learn how to read this year. You may even grow bigger this year (but only if you start eating first.) Sounds like 5 will be a pretty great age!