James is 5!!

My big guy, my James is 5.years.old.  I cannot believe he's moving through the preschool phase and will be on his way to Kindergarten in the Fall.  He is the best big brother, so creative and sweet.  He's funny and kind, and makes us so proud.  He's quick to say I'm sorry and is fast to offer his hugs&kisses.  He's a gentle spirit.  He gets his feelings hurt easily.  He's a precious gift; I'm so glad he's my son.

James made this crown to wear at school on his birthday.  It was such a cool treat & he was so proud of it!  He wanted me to make him a '5' shirt this year for his Batman Birthday party, and even wanted to wear it to school.  His excitement and joy was a wonderful gift to me.

His daddy is the best about 'birthday breakfast'.  What a treat for us all to celebrate!  James got to open one gift before school that I knew he would LOVE.  Star Wars figures and a new Batman zip jacket to wear with his shirt that day.

His Batman cupcakes that he shared with his classmates after lunch.  We ordered the same ones for his birthday party at home.

Grammy&Papa came up to have dinner with us for James' birthday, and brought him the game 'Go Fish' as part of his gift.  Here we all are playing!  At first, he did not like having to give his cards away, but did enjoy the idea of winning enough to come back and give it a try.  He warmed up!

James asked for Batman rice crispy treats for his party.  So I had fun trying to make shapes for the first time!  (I sprayed my wax paper and my spatula, and that made the process much less sticky.  I let them stand about 5 min after putting in a pan, then cut the shapes.  I could still remold the leftover pieces and make a few more at that point.)  

We decided to make a 'Bat Cave' for James' party this time, as we've never done streamers on the ceiling before!  It really turned out cool, but did make the room seem pretty different to me.  I'm not sure i'll be doing it again ;-)  He loved it!!

James' Batman cake!  Publix makes a 'batman' cake, but didn't come with any figures, so we kind of improvised by ordering one from amazon, and filling the space with candles.  In hindsight, we should have just ordered a small round to do the job of 'candle holder'.  We had enough cupcakes that we didn't need to cut it at all for the party! haha, oops.

Our favorite decoration, was really the cupcake sky scraper!!  The boys really enjoyed it!  (orientaltrading.com)

Mimi&Grandpa were able to come up for the party, and Mimi made a Batman Gotham city as a fun decoration for some cute party favors she made.  They were a big hit!

I have loved seeing our boys grow up in this house, blowing out candles every year in this room.  This is James' 3rd party at our home, after having his 1st and 2nd at different homes each year.  What a blessing to have the stability and friendship in our little town.

Look out Batman is right behind you!!

Happy Birthday dear James, Happy Birthday to you!!

The fun decorations, the family, the friends.  We were so blessed to have a lovely time to celebrate our boy.  Not pictured: my attempt at a 'scavenger hunt' game.  haha!  It was supposed to be each child tried to find the images on their game card, but it turned into 'grab everything! caution to the wind! no rules! I win!'  Oh, my.  It was a bust, but really funny in hindsight.  I promise I tried to explain the directions.

After the party was over and all our guests went home, we were so glad that our neighbors stayed.  We ordered some pizza and played 'pin the emblem on Batman' with just the four boys.  It was so nice to have come company and a wind down from all the excitement of the day.

Thank you to all who came and helped celebrate James.  We are so grateful for the friendship, and we hope James knows how much he is loved.  As Matt always says about these big parties, we hope he makes really fond memories of his childhood and can see the focus not being the party details, but the love for him.

Thank you Lord for giving us this boy as our son.  We love him so much and are grateful to be his parents.