Austin's 5th Birthday -- 2015

Our oldest son, Austin Thomas Spofford, has turned 5! Turning five is a big deal for two reasons: he gets to have a birthday party and he gets to start chewing gum. As per our tradition, he got balloons, tattoos, a birthday hat/mask and 4 presents. (Something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read.) I reminded him of the 4 present rule about 30 times that day before he said something about the fact that there were only 3 on the mantel. I'd dismiss it with "you must have just counted wrong" or "that's weird, I know you have four presents". He had chosen superhero theme, so everything from the invitations to the wrapping to the cake to the tattoos followed that theme.

He took a bunch of donut holes to school as his treat (something Seth went and got before going to work again, which was so awesome) and we had the gifts sitting on the mantel all day and his place at the table decorated with the big balloon and the goodies (plates, tattoos, etc). (For some reason I didn't get a picture of that. AGAIN.) He requested pizza for dinner so we ate pizza and then did presents.

one of the better birthday hats/masks I've found yet.

His bike waiting for him on the porch.
This made me start crying every time I saw it.

Since Graham had started the tradition of posing with the banner and presents, I had Austin do it. (His latest thing is that he can't just smile. He's grimacing or open-mouthed.)

cash!

this is a loose "Need"--gum, shoes and shell to complete his costume

I may have gone a little overboard with the "wear" category

After we opened those three presents, we told him we must have misplaced his fourth one and he needed to walk around and find it. The bike was waiting on the porch, and we sent him to several different rooms first before suggesting he check the porch. (All so I could get in position with the camera.) Here's a video of him finding his 4th gift.

He went around riding with no shoes and no helmet (he eventually got a helmet from Kim and David) for quite awhile before I could convince him to at least put shoes on. And then he insisted on wearing the shell too, so we had fun watching him ride up and down the street. Until a pedal fell off. lol

whoops!

Austin's Birthday Party!
Austin was finally old enough to have a birthday party and he was super excited! He chose Superhero theme, dictated who he wanted invited, etc. We had planned to have the party outside, but it decided to downpour in the days immediately prior, so we had to move everything inside. The pinata actually ended up working well, and the "ball pit" we made with balloons seemed to go well too. I think their goal was trying to pop them instead of just playing, but that was fine by us. The ring toss was pretty much a bust, but oh well.

After playing with the ring toss and balloons for awhile, I encouraged people to decorate a bag so that they could collect all their pinata goodies. Seth held it up and it took several rounds which was fun for the kids--hit lots and lots of times, but it felt sorta grueling to the adults. I got a video of the whole thing, but it's 8 minutes long.

After the pinata it was time for cake!

 Here's a video of us all singing to him and Austin blowing out his candles!

Then it was time for presents!

Austin was SO excited about this fishing pole. He wanted it so bad!

party mess leftover

I had meant to get a picture of all five of us at the party, but I did remember to get one of all four of the boys.

Cupcake Night with Nonnie & Gramps
Kim and David always come over on a day not their actual birthday to give them their presents and they bring cupcakes and ice cream as a way of making it a bigger event than just presents. We do presents and then eat the cupcakes.

A helmet for his superhero bike.