Happy Birthday James

James turned 5-years-old yesterday.  He is such a joy to have in our family.  I love his creativity and how he says it like it is.  Some things about James:

• he weighs 40 lbs and is 36 inches tall
• He loves to go to school, and his teachers love having him at school.  Ms. Ginger says the other kids like James too. 
• His favorite color is green
• His best friend is Michael
• His favorite toy is Scout
• His favorite movie is The Sandlot
• His favorite song is "Choose the Right"
• His favorite food is Cheese Its or Doritos 
• He knows all of his letters and letter sounds and can count to 29
• His favorite book is "Zoomer"
• He loves balloons, "8-balls", water, marbles, and baseball.

This year we decided to have a birthday party for James.  Since one of his very favorite things is balloons I figured a balloon themed party would be just the thing.  So we sent out invitations:

Birthday party invitations

I got a ton of balloons, and used Doug's air compressor to blow them up.  Then Doug hung them up all over the house.

We had lots of balloon themed games to play.  Bouncy Ball Balloons, Ballon Ping-Pong, Balloon Popping, Balloon Pinatas, and Balloon Painting (although we didn't get to that one).

James and a water balloon pinata, unfortunately
they didn't pop so we had to just throw them on the ground.

We had lots of balloon decorations too:

Happy Birthday banner

Balloon Cupcakes, plates, cups and napkins 

Balloon wreath, I am going to use this for all our birthdays
but it fit right in with the party theme.  It will probably
end up with a picture of the birthday person in the middle.

James really enjoyed the party and his friends did too.  He had one friend from school come, Anna, who we learned talks about James all the time.  And only James.  So her parents wanted to find out who James was.  She even gave him a hug and a kiss (on the cheek) before she left.

James blowing out the candles

Sunday was a big day too.  In primary on the kids birthdays they get to put a quarter in the candy machine and get some candy.  James has been waiting for this, not very patiently, all year long!  He was so excited to finally get his candy.  

Monday was his birthday and we had a long busy day.  First in the morning we had to register for kindergarten.  I can't believe he is getting so old!  Then we went to the park with some friends.  Lunch, then off to his school for his IEP meeting.  He and Michael just got to play in the classroom while Doug and I met with his teacher, speech therapist, and Occupational Therapist.  They had so many good things to say about James.  It was really fun to listen to and we could really tell how much they enjoy working with James.  He teacher just keep talking about how much progress he had made from the beginning of the year.  He is super smart, and she even talked about having him tested for the Gifted program in second grade.  He is also almost to the point where he wont need to go to Occupational Therapy anymore.  His only goals there are to hold scissors correctly and to learn to hold a pencil correctly.  

James has been asking for a "Scout" cake.  So of course we had to figure that out.  He helped me decorate it, and he really loved it.  I have to say I think it turned out pretty good. 

When Doug got home from work that night we had James' favorite dinner, Steak, Corn on the Cob, Green Jello and Salad (for Doug and Me)  I don't know if I have ever seen James eat so much!  

After Dinner we went outside to open presents and have cake.  This was the first time James made it through opening all his presents without getting burned out, and he was really excited about every one of them.  

James' new sleeping bag

Opening a present from Grammy

Finally we got to blow out the candles.

James had such a fun birthday, and we really enjoyed making it a special day for him.