Friend & Family Party

Jonathan was very excited to have his 5th birthday this year and asked to have a party with his friends. We haven't done a big party for Jonathan since he turned 2, so we decided to celebrate with a big friend party and family party this year. Jonathan seemed to be more into having his friends at his party then opening up his presents.

Jonathan and Mommy putting together party bags for his friends

For his friend party, we went to Jump Planet. A friend of mine suggested this bouncy house place because it was fun and cleaner than Pump It Up. We toured the place and Jonathan really like it, which surprised me because he didn't seem to enjoy Pump It Up the last time we were there. In one of the rooms there was a huge slide that he went down once and never went down again. I was a little scared going down it. It's so big and fast it feels like you're going down a roller coaster. No wonder he was scared. The slide at Jump Planet was smaller and he really loved going down it.

When the day of his party arrived, he was so excited to see all of his friends. There were friends from school, church, playdates, and family there. About 9 kids from his class showed up as well as 3 other kids as well as siblings and parents. Jump Planet was perfect because we only had to pay for up to 16 children over the age of 4, meaning we didn't have to count siblings in the mix. That was great! Jonathan's friends who came were Katie, Mia, Anderson, Ryan, Pranav, Katheryn, Daniel, Jacob, Amanda, Madison, Maya, and Caleb. Then there were countless siblings at the party too.

Before the party, Jonathan started introducing his friends to us. He'd never done that before. Later on during the party, he was with Katie and he told Uncle Ryan, "This is my best friend Katie" and then they ran off hand in hand. It was so cute!

The kids got to play for an hour and 15 minutes after all was said and done. As I walked around, everyone looked like they were having a good time. Ethan seemed to be having a great time too. He was taking Uncle Ryan and Daddy for trips down the slide.

All the parents were sitting together talking or walking around with their kids and they also looked like they were enjoying themselves. One of the moms, Margo, left to go run an errand so I was watching Mia. I had told her that she could leave Mia if she needed and I could watch her. That wasn't a problem. Unfortunately, Jonathan's good friend Eden was out of the country with her grandparents so she was not able to attend, though her mom and little brother came anyways. I thought it would be fun to still have them join us. I was also told that when Eden was told that she missed Jonathan's birthday party, she got very upset and wanted to come home right away. It's good to know that she likes Jonathan that much.

Jonathan really liked the slide.

Ethan going down the slide with Uncle Ryan

Having SO much fun!

Having fun with daddy

Sliding with Madison

Jumping with Jacob

Jordan and his mom, Mia, Madison, and Daniel sliding.
Mia is the one in the air.

Climbing up with Amanda

Jonathan and Daniel

Jonathan and Ethan

Jonathan and Ryan

Jonathan and Katie

Jonathan and Madison

Shooting baskets in the bouncy house

I asked Mia's mom Margo who owns Pinkabella Cupcakes if she could make Jonathan a cake. I told her that he wanted to Lightning McQueen cake and this is what she came up with. It was a great cake and Jonathan really liked it. She even gave us a deal on the cake, which I did not ask her to do so that was so sweet. She did spell Jonathan's name wrong, but I assumed she knew how to spell it so it was my fault for not checking. She felt really bad, but we still loved the cake and Jonathan didn't notice at all. He was more impressed with the road in the shape of a 5 and the fact that the Lightning McQueen was a real diecast car like the kind at Toys R Us.

The cake from Pinkabella Cupcakes

Yummy pizza from Garlic Jim's.

Starting wit the crust

Margo and Mia with the cake they made from Jonathan

Cheese!

Jonathan admiring his cake

Blowing out the candles. AJ is helping.

Jonathan and Katie posing in the birthday chair

Jonathan and Maya

Jonathan and Jacob

Jonathan and Ethan

Jonathan and Katheryn

Jonathan, Ethan, and Amanda

Overall, the party was a great success. I was really hoping that things would turn out good and I had several parents tell me what a good job I did on the party. That made me feel good. Having the party and Jump Planet was great too because they give you someone to help out during the playtime and another person to do all your party room setup, serving, and clean up. They were also very friendly. I didn't have to hardly do a thing. They even cut the cake and serve it you want them to. I love the no stress party! Jump Planet is highly recommended for birthday parties and we would have one there again.

Jonathan and all of his presents

The next day, Saturday, it started snowing all over the Puget Sound. I was so worried that we would not be able to have Jonathan's family party. We told Jonathan that his party might get cancelled and he looked so sad. I even called Safeway to find out what would happen if we didn't pick up his birthday cake. They were totally nice and understood the situation and said that it would be donated if we couldn't get there due to snow.

Fortuntely, the weather held out and we were able to have the party with about half the family that was going to come. All of dad's side includind dad couldn't make it, but all of mom's side that was coming did come. Dad called right before the party and said it dumped really hard so he wasn't able to make it. That was a bummer, but something that could not be helped. I was also able to go out and pick up the cake too.

We had chicken and baked spaghetti for dinner as well as some sides and then cake and ice cream. Mom helped me figure out how much food to buy. Besides the 4 of us, the people that braved the weather and came to the party were: Mom, Auntie Elaine, Uncle Rob, Vivienne, Uncle Andy, Auntie Erin, Ben, Uncle Ryan, Auntie Tayla, Amanda, Uncle Brian, Auntie Marie, Michael, Nathan, Uncle John, and Auntie Martha.

The kids' table

Presents

The third cake from Safeway that was our favorite decoration wise.
I don't know why this photo wouldn't post the right way.

Jonathan really liked the cake too!

Time to eat

What a mess!

Ben and Vivienne

Baby Ben playing

Angry Birds from Uncle Ryan, Auntie Tayla, and Amanda. That yellow thing on Jonathan's head
is the yellow angry bird flying through the air from the sling shot.

More angry birds

We were so thankful that we were able to celebrate Jonathan's birthday with family and I was greatful that my family would risk a drive in the snow to come celebrate. Jonathan had a wonderful time celebrating his birthday. He was so into it this year and I am happy that we were able to give him the party he wanted. I can't believe that he is 5 year old!

Mommy loves you Jonathan!


-Dina

Jonathan's 5th Birthday

Yesterday January 10th was Jonathan's 5th birthday. He started his big day off going to preschool with all of his friends. He got to bring his favorite vege, favorite fruit, and favorite snack to school to share with the class. He decided to bring carrots, blueberries, pretzels, and cranberry juice.

Celebrating his birthday by getting his crown. Jonathan loves getting his birthday crown. He still has his birthday crown from last year's class, which in our house is a big deal since nothing that fragile ever survives long.

Sitting next to his friend Mia.

Jonathan with Pranav and his two best friends Eden and Katie.

After school, Jonathan went to MOPS childcare and he did great. It was only his second time in childcare this year after not liking it at all last year. After my MOPS meeting, we went and picked up a small cake for is birthday since daddy wanted him to have a cake on his actual birthday. We spent a few hours at home and Jonathan got to open his presents. He was so excited that he couldn't wait until Bob got home from work. Since the boys have birthdays on the opposite ends of the year, we decided to let the boys open a present on each other's birthdays.

Ethan with his new Hamm from Toy Story and Nemo.

Jonathan with his new Tokyo Cars 2 set.

Jonathan got to open presents from mom, dad, and Ethan as well as presents from Gung Gung and Po Po. He got some toys from Cars 2, Toy Story, and Bob the Builder. In the evening, we went up to Alderwood Mall and then we met Bob at Chuck E Cheese. Jonathan had 20 free birthday tokens to redeem and I wouldn't have thought about taking him to Chuck E Cheese before last week since he didn't seem to have fun the last time we went, but he went to Pranav's birthday party there and had a blast and had some tokens left so both boys got to have some fun.

Driving cars at Chuck E Cheese.

Skee ball.

More skee ball.

Ethan riding the train.

Jonathan riding Scoop from Bob the Builder.

Basketball.

Look at that form throwing baseballs. Uncle Andy would be proud!

We also stopped at Barnes and Noble so he could get a free cookie or cupcake for being part of the kids club and then we stopped at Toys R Us where he got another crown, a balloon, and got to pick out a toy to redeem his $3 birthday card from Geoffrey's birthday club. He picked out Max Schnell from Cars 2, which completed his Cars 2 race car collection. Then we picked up some pizza from Pizza Hut since he got to pick out what he wanted for his birthday dinner.

Jonathan with his Safeway birthday cake. He got to pick it out. He was so excited! Chocolate with chocolate filling.

Enjoying his birthday cake.

Ethan devoured his entire piece.

Mommy got some snuggle time with the birthday boy :)

Jonathan is getting so big. I can't believe he is 5 years old already! I can truly say that I understand the feeling when parents say "they grow up so fast" about their own kids. Jonathan will be starting Kindergarten in the fall. I don't think I am ready for that at all. I am so proud of how much Jonathan has grown and for what he has learned.

Jonathan passed out after his big day. I think he had a great day and had a lot of fun!

Jonathan, you are such a sweet boy. We love you so much and we are so proud of you! Though I don't want you to grow up too fast, I can't wait to see all the things you are going to accomplish!

-Dina

Time To Take The Tree Down

Today we took the Christmas tree and all the stockings down. If you know us at all, you know that this is the earliest that we have EVER taken down our Christmas tree. Actually, we usually leave our tree up so long that it becomes the Valentine's Day tree or the Easter tree even. We had motivation to take it down this year-to make more room in the house for Jonathan's 5th birthday party with his family. We usually just go out to a restaurant, but since this is going to be his big 5th birthday, we invited all of my aunts and uncles too.

Ethan loves his brother so much and copies everything he does!

Such a cute picture.

Jonathan was excited to help take the decorations off the tree and put the tree away I think only because we told him that we needed more room for his family party. Ethan, on the other hand, was so sad. He just sat on the couch and said "Christmas Tree" in his own way (Tismas Tree) with his head down. He did end up helping us put the decorations away and got over it pretty quickly though. I just felt bad that we took the tree down so early and that Ethan was so sad about it.

-Dina

Good Way To Ring In The New Year!

Ethan had a regularly scheduled ophthalmology appointment at Children's today.

At his last appointment, it was generally felt that by this appointment, Ethan would begin glasses and eye patching (to avoid the onset of amblyopia).

After examining Ethan, the doctor felt that his astigmatism wasn't actually all that bad and that Ethan was good to go for at least another year without doing anything! So the little guy gets a reprieve for another year from any glasses or eye patches.

This is good for a lot of reasons, the least of which is that we all felt (the doctor especially) that Ethan would simply not be very agreeable to it. One of the tests today was to actually patch one eye and have him track something with the other eye. This test did not go well at all since Ethan screamed and cried the entire time one eye was patched. The exact moment the patching stopped, he calmed down.

There is also the remote possibility that as he grows, the eyeball may flatten out a little more thereby reducing the astigmatism. If this is the case, while glasses are still almost a foregone conclusion, we may get away with not doing the patching at all. It is still far to early to make that call but there is hope...

- b