Oliver's Birthday Day

We like to celebrate birthdays at our house as much as possible. When I was younger (and had more time to care about myself) I would have a whole birthday month. I'd always be cooking something up and counting it "for my birthday." As I've gotten older, it slowly turned into a birthday week, and now finally just the actual day (that let's face--isn't really that fun when you're old).
I want our kids to live it up while they can, so even if we've had the party with friends on the weekend, I want their actual day to be just as fun...


I made Oliver some yummy cake batter pancakes complete with sprinkles for breakfast.

He opened a Hot Wheels laser car decorating toy from Hudson.

I love these rare, sweet hugs so much!  

 
Gretel sent him this Tron motorcycle, and the boys spent the rest of the day fighting over it.

That night we invited cousins and grandparents to Chuck E. Cheese for some fun and games!
He'd been dying to get in the ticket blower machine since he'd seen other kids do it on their birthdays, so we made his birthday wish come true. He was so calm and methodical about gathering the tickets. He just stood their calmly and clasped them in his little hands. There was no frantic frenzy to be had!

He had a yummy candy cake I bought at our ward service auction. I was so glad to be off the hook for a second cake! Thanks Lithia, for the darling dessert!

Here he is posing in his birthday crown from preschool,

and with Dad, being super macho,

and with me, being the cutest little troll that ever lived!
I love you so much, Ollie!

Here are some things about Oliver Finn at age 5:

*He wakes up every morning happy and ready to eat his bowl of mixed kinds of cold cereal.

* He hounds me incessantly  asks very kindly all morning if I can play game after game after game with him.

*He's really into race cars and super heroes right now. Especially Spiderman (still).

*He's a really good eater and will try almost anything.

*He loves to read.

*If I would let him, he would spend all day playing "guys" with me. We have to make his guys talk and go places together and battle each other. I hate it love it and would spend all day doing it too! The thing that's the worst about it is that he makes you say whatever he wants you to say. You can't make anything up yourself, and if you try, he corrects you. It's the worst. But I know one day I'll miss it, so I keep doing it!

*His energy is endless. He rarely wants to rest and watch a show. If he does want to watch something, he's usually doing headstands on the couch to keep himself from relaxing too much.

*He is the most happy, positive, joyful child I have ever known. I feel so lucky to be his mom!