Lucas turns 5!

There was something downright magical about Lucas' birthday this year.  Everything seemed to fall into place and work out just about perfectly as we celebrated him.  It really felt like a gift from above.  In many ways I think this birthday has become the new gold standard of how we'll be doing birthdays around here.  We didn't do anything extravagant by any means, but everything we did do felt very meaningful and we struck just the right balance.

 

I had such tender feelings for Lucas throughout all the celebrating and I feel like we grew closer and enjoyed some real quality bonding time.  It meant the world to me, since I worry from time to time about his being the third out of four boys.  I don't ever want him feeling lost in the shuffle or anything like that (though it is a great shuffle to be a part of!).

I was able to volunteer in Lucas' preschool classroom on the big day.  It fell on a Friday which worked out great.  I had the best time!  I even happened to be there for an activity the teachers say is one of their very favorites that they look forward to all year.  Score!

Here is Lucas during snack time with the play doh birthday cake he made:

 Blowing out the candles (they let him do real candles!):

That evening we had a family celebration.  We seriously had such a great time!

Jake found some sort of dance party light machine he thought would make a great gift for Lucas.  It is pretty neat; it lights up the room in all different patterns and even responds to voice commands.  Unfortunately it didn't show up at all in the picture, but you do get to see the kids' dance moves (I love the Splashdance pose in the background there):

Here is another gift of note -- Simon!  Apparently he now has a new, sleeker design but is still the same game we all remember from the eighties.  All the kids love it and Jake and I have been caught taking a turn or two ;)

We did birthday brownies for our own celebration since we were reserving the cake for his friend's party the following day.  It worked out really well -- great idea, Jake!

I love seeing all my guys in party hats!  And...

...there's not much that can melt my heart faster than Lucas in a party hat:

Speaking of the cake at his party the next day, here it is!

Blowing out candles for the 3rd time this birthday!  Caden tried to get in on the action but Jake stopped him in time:

We set up a fun obstacle course for the kiddos and it was a hit.  This was the station where they had to jump 10 x's over the hippity-hop stick before moving on to the next challenge:

This little gal couldn't get enough of it.  She kept coming back for more!

After the rigors of the obstacle course they were ready to work on some craft-type activities:

Here they are working on a color-your-own-puzzle.  Of course Lucas' had to involve zombies:

Presents!  Oh, and you can see the dance party light a bit there in the background.  It took present-opening to a whole new level:

These last few are shots I took of some of the birthday decorating I did.  I made a few new additions this time around (mostly balloons and streamers) and I want to remember what I did since they worked really well.  Simple, yet effective:

Happy Birthday Lucas!  We love you very much and had the best time celebrating as you turned 5!  I hope you know how much you mean to us.  Everything worked out so beautifully for your birthday and I hope we were able to make you feel very special.  I think we did because you were so happy and having so much fun the whole week-end!  I could tell right away that you were going to be a great 5-year-old -- it seems to suit you so well!  I look forward to helping you have your best year yet!