Wally's birthday was a few weeks ago, but here is a blog about it. Before I get to the birthday celebrations, I wanted to include a picture of our garden, and specifically our sunflowers. Wally wanted to plant mammoth sunflowers, so we did. They weren't kidding when they said that they grow to be 12 feet tall. The top of the sunflower by Wally is actually cut off in the picture. I feel like I am in "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" when I'm in my garden. I love it!
To start off Wally's birthday celebration, he and I made cup cakes for him to bring to Kinderfarm. I figure it might be his only chance to celebrate his birthday at school. Since he wanted a Star Wars theme, we made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting (think black space) and yellow stars. The red hots were the stars eyes (??). And, well, sprinkles are just cool.
On the morning of his birthday, we measured him. He is just over 47.5 inches. Quite the huge kid! And, check out those abs!
At Kinderfarm, the birthday kid gets to wear a birthday crown all day and then take it home. Wally of course had to pose with Pearl the Pig. Notice his new Star Wars t-shirt.
And with the horses. It was very exciting one day as a new horse, Cashmere, arrived.
Cashmere is a very friendly horse. but Wally was not too happy when he ate the top off of his crown. Luckily, it didn't taste very good so Cashmere spit it out and I was able to grab it and tape in on when we got home. Whew!
That night, Wally got to open presents. He loves his harp from Reder and Ruby. He can actually play recognizable songs on it now that it is somewhat in tune.
Wally was maybe a little bit wired about his birthday.
When I asked him what he wanted for his birthday dinner, he said, "Steak!" We weren't about to argue with that. How he has grown up. He used to hate meat, especially beef. Finally, he would eat chicken nuggets, so we would get him to eat beef and pork by calling them "special chicken dippers."
We had left-over cup cakes for his birthday desert.
Wally wanted a pinata for his birthday party, but they are crazy expensive! So, Wally and I made a giant paper mache "Death Star" pinata, that he painted like a rainbow. And, I just realized that we don't have a picture of the final product. He was proud and it worked well. If you don't count man-hours, it was a whole lot cheaper than buying one.
Wally wanted an X-wing fighter cake. I designed it so that the wings would be in the X position...
But, the graham crackers got soggy and the "shooters" were too heavy for my engineering, so the X-wing's wings were not spread. Wally still enjoyed it though.
For Wally's party, we set up a Jedi Training Center. We had the Jedis play in the sprinkler and then I would call them to the training center for a training exercise like "Leia, Leia, Luke" and "Yoda Says."
Their training was complete just in time as Darth Vader and the Storm Troopers showed up in the back yard (print-outs taped to trees, etc). The Jedis had to use water balloons to get the "bad guys" wet.
After Jedi training and the battle were complete, all of the kids (7 4&5 year-olds plus younger siblings) earned their light sabers in a small ceremony. Afterwards, the Jedis could color their light sabers. Then we had pizza and Galaxy Balls (aka melon salad) for dinner. The weather couldn't have been nicer, so we were able to eat on the porch.
Sadly, this is the best picture of Wally and his cake we have. It just was too chaotic to get all the pictures we wanted during the party. I guess that means we were all having a great time.
Back at the Jedi Training Center, Wally got to open his presents. The kid is spoiled. Luckily, he realizes how spoiled/blessed he is.
After presents, we concluded the Jedi training by destroying the Death Star. With 3 kids left, the rope tore through the pinata (good thing Joel had reinforced it). I volunteered Joel to hold it while the last 3 kids got a whack at it (thanks Honey!). Then it was candy, stickers, and silly bands for all.
We concluded Wally's birthday party with what turned out to be a blast...picking cherry tomatoes. The kids loved climbing through the tomato plants picking tomatoes and filling baggies to take home. This is why I have a garden, to be able to enjoy it with others.
To start off Wally's birthday celebration, he and I made cup cakes for him to bring to Kinderfarm. I figure it might be his only chance to celebrate his birthday at school. Since he wanted a Star Wars theme, we made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting (think black space) and yellow stars. The red hots were the stars eyes (??). And, well, sprinkles are just cool.
On the morning of his birthday, we measured him. He is just over 47.5 inches. Quite the huge kid! And, check out those abs!
At Kinderfarm, the birthday kid gets to wear a birthday crown all day and then take it home. Wally of course had to pose with Pearl the Pig. Notice his new Star Wars t-shirt.
And with the horses. It was very exciting one day as a new horse, Cashmere, arrived.
Cashmere is a very friendly horse. but Wally was not too happy when he ate the top off of his crown. Luckily, it didn't taste very good so Cashmere spit it out and I was able to grab it and tape in on when we got home. Whew!
That night, Wally got to open presents. He loves his harp from Reder and Ruby. He can actually play recognizable songs on it now that it is somewhat in tune.
Wally was maybe a little bit wired about his birthday.
When I asked him what he wanted for his birthday dinner, he said, "Steak!" We weren't about to argue with that. How he has grown up. He used to hate meat, especially beef. Finally, he would eat chicken nuggets, so we would get him to eat beef and pork by calling them "special chicken dippers."
We had left-over cup cakes for his birthday desert.
Wally wanted a pinata for his birthday party, but they are crazy expensive! So, Wally and I made a giant paper mache "Death Star" pinata, that he painted like a rainbow. And, I just realized that we don't have a picture of the final product. He was proud and it worked well. If you don't count man-hours, it was a whole lot cheaper than buying one.
Wally wanted an X-wing fighter cake. I designed it so that the wings would be in the X position...
But, the graham crackers got soggy and the "shooters" were too heavy for my engineering, so the X-wing's wings were not spread. Wally still enjoyed it though.
For Wally's party, we set up a Jedi Training Center. We had the Jedis play in the sprinkler and then I would call them to the training center for a training exercise like "Leia, Leia, Luke" and "Yoda Says."
Their training was complete just in time as Darth Vader and the Storm Troopers showed up in the back yard (print-outs taped to trees, etc). The Jedis had to use water balloons to get the "bad guys" wet.
After Jedi training and the battle were complete, all of the kids (7 4&5 year-olds plus younger siblings) earned their light sabers in a small ceremony. Afterwards, the Jedis could color their light sabers. Then we had pizza and Galaxy Balls (aka melon salad) for dinner. The weather couldn't have been nicer, so we were able to eat on the porch.
Sadly, this is the best picture of Wally and his cake we have. It just was too chaotic to get all the pictures we wanted during the party. I guess that means we were all having a great time.
Back at the Jedi Training Center, Wally got to open his presents. The kid is spoiled. Luckily, he realizes how spoiled/blessed he is.
After presents, we concluded the Jedi training by destroying the Death Star. With 3 kids left, the rope tore through the pinata (good thing Joel had reinforced it). I volunteered Joel to hold it while the last 3 kids got a whack at it (thanks Honey!). Then it was candy, stickers, and silly bands for all.
We concluded Wally's birthday party with what turned out to be a blast...picking cherry tomatoes. The kids loved climbing through the tomato plants picking tomatoes and filling baggies to take home. This is why I have a garden, to be able to enjoy it with others.
I can't believe my baby is 5. He is turning out to be quite a big kid. Why have I been so blessed? I will never know, but I am.