Matthew’s 5th Birthday

Our baby is five years old!  (Actually he’s pretty much five and half now!)

Usually when a birthday is celebrate it’s often a time to reflect on the past, especially when they were born.  Matthew especially brings some hard memories back as it was a difficult time in our lives, having just received the news that James was terminally ill a few weeks earlier (altho the reality of this had not yet set in), coming home for the hospital only two weeks before Matthew was due after being gone for 6 weeks.  I still had to unpack the summer clothes properly (the kids had just been digging through boxes), get the baby stuff out, figure out where to fit Matthew into the equation while also trying to fit all James’ new medical equipment into the house.  Those were crazy weeks!  And the next months were not any easier with little sleep and the reality of James’ illness sinking in.  Matthew was a disguised blessing at the time, an unhappy baby (like most of my kids), wanting lots of attention in a busy household with parents that were sleep deprived.  I remember very little of those first couple months of Matthew’s life, but we’ve made up for that since and now we watch as he gets bigger and bigger and we get further and further away from the baby stage of parenting.

I invited some friend’s over who have kids Matthew’s age for morning coffee and a swim. 

I totally shocked all those who know me, especially my children, by buying a cake for Matthew’s birthday.  It had been crazy busy and hot and time was limited and I had been debating what to make for a cake.  Matthew had requested the hamburgers and fries and I wasn’t in the mood to make a batch of regular “hamburgers” and gluten free ones.  I was totally excited when I happened to be walking through Wal-Mart and what did I see … a hamburger cake!  And on sale too … it was meant to be! 

Somewhere in there I got a burst of energy the night before Matthew’s birthday to make some GF ones as well altho I did debate just letting us eat wheat for the day, but I hate to do that when I know I am quite capable of providing a similiar GF option.  I did ended up staying up past midnight and regretting that moment where that burst of energy came, but when the next day arrived it was all good.

Lighting the candles and getting ready to sing

My big boy!

Opening cards and presents

The kids then proceeded to go swimming.  A bit of a challenge when the pool is not really that big and there are lots of kids, but after everyone cooled off a bit they rotated between the trampoline and the pool.

or playing with the birthday presents … this is a rocket bubble blower.  The kids jump on the blue square which pumps air to make the rocket go flying up and it’s a bubble wand so bubbles follow behind it.  Great fun for a bunch of boys who just want to see how far they can get that rocket to fly.

Matthew’s patience for dad to come home to open the remainder of the presents was a bit tried, he had oepned a couple presents in the morning when Jada was still there, he had presents from his friends, and then he opened another present at lunch time as he just couldn’t wait until after supper.  We had soccer that night, so it was an early supper and off to soccer.  When they got home he was able to open the remainder of his presents.

One of the best presents of the day was a watch.  He was told when he learned the basics of telling time he could have his own watch and he had accomplished this by being able to tell when it’s on the hour and half hour. 

He had also asked for an alarm clock for when school starts so he could be just like the girls and have an alarm wake him up (not that he needs that as he’s almost always up before the alarm).  We found him a rocket ship alarm clock that shines the time on the ceiling (a Zeller's store closing find)

The day ended with some more hamburger cake and off for a good night sleep.  Another year older, they grow up way too fast!