A Blast of a Birthday

Jack turned 5 last week! FIVE?! Really? Despite my typical sappy and sentimental feelings when my kids have a birthday, I have to admit that I wasn't too sad about his birthday. I think a lot of it had to do how much he was looking forward to this day. It was the first time I sensed REAL excitement about having a birthday. And this is probably the first birthday he'll really remember when he's an adult. I  really love this age. Jack's really fun. 

He wanted to have an outer space birthday party, and I couldn't wait to give him one that he'll never forget.

We sent out invitations with this picture on the front to his cousins and some of his closest friends. 

The kids had, well...a blast. They got to play with his new space shuttle toy, dress up in his astronaut costume and ride the inflatable shuttle,

make space glasses and jet packs,

have moon rock races,

and eat moon cake, of course!

(This cake was surprisingly easy to make, btw. Here's the link). 

I decided to let Jack choose who he'd like to invite rather than ME tell him who is coming to his party. Luckily, he wanted all of his cousins and some of my his favorite little friends. It was a perfect little party.

One of the gifts he got was a rocket launcher. It's a very cool toy. The kids had so much fun jumping on the launcher and watching the rocket soar up into the sky:

How cute is my nephew Wyatt? He came as Buzz Lightyear

And then later that evening, Mike and soon-to-be-aunt Maureen came over, and the rocket launching continued.

When Jamie was putting Jack to bed, he came running out of his room, gave me a huge hug, and said, "Thanks for the BEST birthday party ever. I LOVE YOU!"

melted. my. heart. 

So, here's a little note to Jack (for him to read one day when he's being an evil teenager and I want to remind him of how sweet and innocent he was) Feel free to skip over it, if you want:

Dear Jack,

When I met you, I knew I would love you no matter what. But you certainly haven't made it hard to love you.You are such a wonderful and adorable little guy, although you're starting to act more like a kid and less like a little boy. You are so independent now: You can read. You can swim. You play t-ball.  When you wake up in the middle of the night from a bad dream, you just come and ask me to turn on the fish tank light instead of crawling into bed with us. You even sleep without your monkey (only because we left it at Kerry's..You still love Monk).  I love the way you so happily play with other kids. You adore Shane and Ryan, but you love to play with just about anyone. You're usually very kind (sometimes you choose to make Alice scream, but that's to be expected). And you're so funny and smiley. I couldn't have asked for a better boy to be my son and to be Alice's brother. You make me so proud, and you never forget to tell me that you love me...That means the world to me. I love watching you dance and sing your current favorite song (that you make me play over and over again)-Rolling in the Deep by Adele. You're extremely good at video games-I'm not proud of the fact that you play video games but Daddy keeps reassuring me that you're learning to be creative and use fine motor skills when you play. You also love to play with race cars, space ships, and legos.

Every night, you and Daddy read a chapter book together, and then play a few minutes of Risk on his phone (I've heard you use the words, 'Fortify" and "Retaliate"). You tell him you love him and you'll drink big kefir and watch the news in the morning, because that's what we do every morning.  And when I walk past your room, you whisper, "Would you lay with me."  I gladly lay next to you and watch you drift off to sleep. 

I also gladly give you a "tight hug and tight kiss," followed by a "regular hug and regular kiss" when I leave for work in the morning. You're so sweet.  Stay that way forever. I love you to the moon and back, my sweet Jack.

Happy Birthday! 

Love,

Mom