We woke Alex up at 6:45 AM yesterday morning so that we could do presents before Seth and Alyssa left for the day. He was so tired. He was too excited to sleep the night before. Even though he was tired I knew he would want to do presents early so that he could play with his new stuff. He had already poked holes in all his packages to peek. When I discovered all the tampered with packages I asked if he peeked. "No, mommy I didn't peek" (with a big smile on his face). So I asked, what do you think might be in these packages if you had to guess? He guessed every item perfectly. I asked how he knew? "Because I peeked at them mommy. I won't peek anymore, I already saw them all."
I found the peeking mostly cute and certainly harmless but I knew we needed to get those packages opened early or my day would turn in to a torturously long game of Mommy is it time yet?
Here are the goods. We told him to hold up 5 fingers. Notice Alyssa's hand with 5 little fingers sticking up too.
The batcave that he has been asking for since right after last Christmas. Apparently Alyssa didn't peek.
This is the little engineer bear that Alyssa wrapped up and handed down to Alex. I asked her if that bear wasn't already Alex's? She was certain that it was hers and had always been hers but she thought Alex would like it better. I told her that was sweet of her. I didn't want to hurt her feelings. Even Alex didn't want to hurt her feelings and told me it used to be his but he gave it to her once and now she was giving it back, which never happened but how sweet of him to come to her defense. So now Alex is the proud owner of an engineer teddy bear...
That has been his since he was a baby...Shhhh!
We sang Happy Birthday and had some monkey bread for breakfast, or monkey balls as Seth and Jeff call them. Hey, if that sounds more appetizing to you then go for it.
Chloe kept saying Happy Birthday but every time I tried to record it she would hug Shamu and say cheese. She doesn't quite get the difference between video and still pictures. Oh well!
After breakfast we sent Alyssa and Seth on their way and spent the rest of the morning like this...after an hour of undoing twist ties to get the toys out of their boxes. Some of the toys require adult assembly. I don't do adult assembly, only twist ties, so those toys will have to wait for daddy.
Now on to the super ghettofied party, that wasn't really a party. Remember how the kids helped me plan a Monster party a few months ago? Well, Alex refused to invite anyone. His closest friends have moved away and he is not ready to make new ones. I tried to invite kids from school and the boys in his church class but he kept telling me that he doesn't play with those kids. He doesn't. Finally we decided not to throw a party if it wasn't what he wanted, even if I wanted it really, REALLY badly. All he wanted was a $12 Gravity Bot transformer and Burger King for lunch. He didn't even want a cake. We looked at cool cakes online for an hour but he wasn't in to it. Then we saw store bought cupcakes at Sam's Club last weekend and he almost jumped out of his skin with excitement. That is what he wanted for a birthday cake. We gave up any hopes of a real party and agreed to let him pick out cupcakes on his birthday. On Monday we ended up going to lunch at Burger King with my friend Jen and her girls. Alex plays with them all the time so I asked him if he wanted to invite their family to go to Chuck E Cheese with us on Wednesday. He did. Just like that our fabulously unfabulous birthday party was born.
Wednesday afternoon I finally convinced Alex to get dressed and we hit the grocery store. All 3 of my kids were running through the store with the kid sized carts, running in to everyone and everything. I wish I'd had my camera. Alex put the following treats in to his basket. For himself, Spiderman cupcakes, a Spongebob cookie, and a mini Bumblebee cake. For the moms and dads, regular b-day cupcakes. And for the girls, girly cupcakes. He was the only boy in attendance last night. He's used to that.
We arrived at Chuck E Cheese and he informed me that he was supposed to get a free birthday crown. Of course it wasn't free, but they were happy to sell us this charming inflatable token holding masterpiece.
Most of the tokens were used by Seth, who loves Chuck E Cheese, and Mike, who claimed to be anti Chuck E Cheese but managed to put on a pretty convincing "I'm having fun" face.
When Chuck E came out the girls were singing and dancing along
Alex was keeping his distance. He wouldn't even open his eyes. Maybe he was praying for the mouse to get out of there.
I somehow convinced him that his birthday wouldn't be the same without a picture with Chuck E.
And that is it...Alex's fantastic 5th birthday celebration. I wasn't stressed out all day. I wasn't busy cleaning and nervous about how my cake was coming along. I was just playing with my birthday boy. It was great! Alex was happy. He had fun. Maybe successful birthdays don't require hours of work and hundreds of dollars. Maybe a last minute Chuck E Cheese run and store bought confections are just as well in the long run.
Maybe...but I am going to have that Monster party someday!
Maybe...but I am going to have that Monster party someday!
Oh, and yesterday I learned the name of Batman's sidekick. Do you know it???
It's Red Robin. Too cute to correct, I think.
11 comments:
Ooh boy, what a party it turned out to be after all. We have no Chuck E Cheese here so my two are blisfully ignorant of all the fun they are missing. I'll have to hide this post. (Although West just saw Alyssa's pic and said she was pretty. Tell me about it!) Anyway, happy birthday to your adorable five year old. What a cute baby he was. Those cheeks!
And that batcave is on someone's Christmas list over here. It looks like a doll house for boys. I love it.
By the way, that was me, Erin posting above. I was logged on to the family website. I guess I should turn back into Prudy fast before I lose my secret identity.
Thank you for your delightful report. Alex's face just looks so happy in a lot of the pictures, especially with the uh monkey balls. I loved that Alyssa gave back what she took - classic (I think she's onto something). Isn't Chuck E. Cheese so much easier than putting together a regular kid's party? I think some years parents need a break in party planning.
Erin,
It is funny that you said the bat cave was a doll house for boys. I called my mom yesterday afternoon (since she sent the batcave) and told her, "this thing is so cool, it is like a doll house for boys." No we'll just have to see how long he actually plays with it.
What is tied around Chloe at Chucky? She is so funny! Al looks so happy and I love that he sat there with his eyes closed when Chuck came out, he is so weird!! Obviously our boys don't have the same reactions to costumed creatures, Luke would have hugging the rat for sure!
I like how Al gracefully accepted the teddy bear he had all along, perfect example of how sweet he is. He sure didn't learn that from G.Susie (broken horses on her bday)!!
I love that first, sleepy, delirious picture, and that closed eyes one, too--too funny! Looks like you figured out a good way to have an awesome day without all the stress! Sad we missed out. Hey, I still want that broccoli chicken recipe! :o)
I've been reading your blog for weeks now. I loved your story today about your little girl giving her brother his bear. The picture of him as a baby with the very same bear made me laugh.
Your kids are so cute, and Alyssa is beautiful. She really is, and I think she looks a lot like you.
I liked your birthday blog about Glen, too. The line he yelled out to the neighbor who told him he loved him was so funny.
Well, just know some of your old cousins are reading along and enjoying your blog.
Wow, I am coming to your house for my birthday. It looked like Christmas. Good going Alex. Looks like so much fun.
Val, Chloe turned her Chuck E bib backward like a cape. I thought of the 3 legged horses when Alyssa gave Alex that bear. That is why I didn't dare push the issue and tell her the bear was definitely his already.
Katelin, why do I keep forgetting to send you that recipe???
Hey Leslie, welcome aboard. I just found your blog through the Renouf family blog. I am so happy to be hanging out with my cousins in the blogging world.
Kory, our kids always look more spoiled than they are. Remember they have divorced grandparents so that get twice as many gifts.
Wow, look at the pile of presents for Alex. He must have been quite excited! I'm so glad Alex could tolerate my girls enough to invite them to Chuck E Cheese. We ALL had fun even though Mike claims to be anti-organized fun. The girls were talking about what they wanted to do at their Chuck E Cheese parties. I told them they would have to talk to their father about that...LOL.
Annie was really sick the next day and missed school 2 days in a row. We finally went to the doctor, and he gave her a home nebulizer. It makes a world of difference.
FUN!!
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