Seth Turns Five!

This was a bittersweet day for me--five is big number! We're officially crossing into "big kid" territory now. I'm not sure I'm ready for him to grow up so quickly, as awesome as it is to watch him learn & grow!

We started off the morning with his birthday cereal and the same truck balloon he's picked out for years

We had a last-minute shift in vacation plans, which meant moving Seth's party to his actual birthday instead of Saturday. Which meant we had swimming lessons in the morning, a party in the afternoon, and packing all evening! A crazy day, but worth it to celebrate Seth.

Seth picked his party theme this year: Bad Piggies. He LOVES that game. You design a car, then race it around a course either trying to get three stars, or trying to blow up the car (guess which one Seth chooses to do?). 

I'm so not good at this party planning thing, but I managed to come up with a few great games for the kids to play. Of course, they were all outside games and we woke up that morning to a downpour that NEVER LET UP. So I had to make some last-minute adjustments to the plans.

Decorating is also not my gift, but I did enough to please Seth:

Seth actually made the poster above.

It says "SETH!" (with a few mistakes crossed out)

Activity #1: Painting wooden cars to race (if it hadn't rained, that is)

Activity #2: Pin the piggies in the car:

Activity #3: Making our own Bad Piggies masks:

Six little Bad Piggies

Then it was cake time, which is all Seth had been asking about since the party started.

I was very happy with how his cake turned out!

This was a lot of fun to make! I had one of the Primary girls in our ward who wanted to be a pastry chef come over and help me (she did a fantastic job!), plus Seth helped. He made the third star, plus helped me assemble the car.

Just a little bit excited about the cake

Blowing out the candles

(I love Catherine's little face peeking over the counter)

The car was the first thing eaten--every kid got a piece! (Not sure why they were so excited about it--I can't imagine it tasted that great, but sugar is sugar when you're a kid!). I didn't get a picture of the cake itself, but Seth picked lemon cake with raspberry icing (I'm obviously raising him right!). I did dye the cake green to match the Bad Piggies, which he thought was pretty cool.

Then it was present time, which was INSANE. I spent most of my time trying to keep one of Seth's friends from opening all the presents before Seth did! 

I asked that Seth's gifts be very simple--he's spoiled enough as it is! Some of his favorites were a bag of cotton candy, a box of granola bars, and bubble gum.  

Catherine had a very special present for Seth. A day or two before, Seth had found a wooley bear caterpillar outside (just like the one he adored last fall). He brought it inside, made it a house and got it some food. It would have eaten dinner at the table with us if Dad hadn't objected. 

Sadly, during an after-dinner visit Catherine got a hold of the caterpillar and was...less than gentle with it. Seth was in tears when I told him his caterpillar was probably going to die. And so, after a plea on my ward's Facebook page, I found a friend whose kids just happened to have a caterpillar they were willing to give to Seth.

This was Catherine's gift: 

A new caterpillar!

It was a big hit at the party.

(Cute side-story: by some miracle the mangled caterpillar managed to survive the night. When Seth got up the next morning and saw it was still moving, he was so excited. "Mom! Heavenly Father and Jesus made my caterpillar all better!" It did die a day or two later, but by then he had another caterpillar and didn't seem too upset by the event).

We had Seth's birthday dinner (Panera mac & cheese with butterfly noodles, corn on the cob and green beans from our garden) with the Oliveras, then opened family gifts with Grandpa & Grandma Mikesell over Skype. This was Seth's favorite gift from the Mikesells: 

Firefighter and policeman hats and outfits to play dress-up with!

He was also pleased with his gifts from Mom & Dad: a package of Lego wheels (nothing but wheels and axles so he can make cars to his heart's content) and a remote control car: 

Happy Birthday, my not-so-little Seth Man!

We love you!