I still can't believe my baby turned five years old this week. It just doesn't seem possible to me that five years have gone by. I can't even remember what life was like before he was born. What did we talk about and do all the time? Ha! He has certainly filled our days with more joy than I could have ever imagined.
We celebrated his birthday last weekend, and it was definitely a party to remember!
The invitation...
I made them on my computer- super easy and cheap!
Since this was such a milestone birthday, I wanted to make it extra special and include some of his preschool friends. Since he has been attending school with most of these kids since he was 2 years old, they have grown to be great friends and I thought Andrew would enjoy having them come to his party.
This was the party place! It was so nice not having to get my house all cleaned and ready. I have always done his parties at home, and I never will again! Letting someone else clean up the mess was worth every penny! Ha! And can you imagine a neater place for kids? They all were just in awe. This is the Fish Bowl at Bass Pro Shops! We love it here! We have declared Bass Pro the official place for Santa photo shoots, and we love to come here to just walk around and look at things. Andrew loves it here too. And he loves bowling- a double bonus! And what's better than a bowling alley with sharks and alligators spitting the balls out??
Andrew insisted on a Kung Fu Panda theme. At first, I was reluctant, but after I got into it and started planning and looking at ideas, I decided it was pretty fitting. After all, Andrew is a little warrior! And the new show on Nickelodeon is called "Legends of Awesomeness," and we think he's pretty awesome too! So I took the theme and ran with it...
The party favors...
I got chinese take out boxes from the HyVee Chinese Express (they are nice ones too! And they even say "thank you" on them!) Then I made name tags and filled them with chopsticks, a fortune cookie, a Kung Fu Panda mask, party blower, stickers and a few other small toys. I got a lot of things on sale since it was the Chinese new year- the year of the dragon! Perfect timing for a Kung Fu Panda party.
On the other side of the name tag it said: There is a saying: "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That's why we call it the 'present.'" Thank you for being part of our "present" and sharing Andrew's special day with us! I just printed them on labels and attached them to red scrapbook paper- super easy!
I downloaded the chinese symbol for gratitude and used it next to the names.
I was so glad I did cupcakes instead of a sheet cake this year- with 15 little kids eyeballing them there was no way I would have had time to cut all those in pieces!
They had the neatest party room that was very spacious with 3 big tables.
Andrew was so cute when he walked in and saw all the decorations. He was so excited. About a week leading up to his party he kept asking if it was his birthday yet. The morning of his party (which was 2 days before his actual birthday) he was eating breakfast and he said "I'm five now?!" It was so cute. I don't think he understood why he wasn't five yet! Ha!
This picture is blurry (it was kind of dark in there and I couldn't get the setting on my camera right quick enough!) but it is probably my favorite picture of the day. He was just so proud and happy here. I always make him a sign for all his parties- I think "5" might be the year I decide to stop making them! Ha! But it has been fun, and Andrew loves them. I ordered his personalized shirt online (I just did a google search).
I love this of his friends peering in the mouth waiting for the ball to come out! So cute!
So I didn't really think through the amount of kids that I invited... there were a ton! It was a little chaotic, to say the least. I had this fear of no one showing up, so I invited about 5 extra kids just in case. Well, everyone showed up! Ha! I was really happy actually. Andrew just loves all of his little friends, and it really meant a lot to him that they all came.
It was neat to have all of his friends from different places- two different preschools, our couple friends and their kids, his cousins, both sets of grandparents... all his favorite people in one place. It was pretty awesome.
I love this...surrounded by his buddies!
Five birthday candles...
This picture just cracks me up because it just sums up the chaos! Ha! I'm in a chair and Andrew is standing up, tearing into his presents and I could not get him to slow down. The kids are surrounding him about 1 inch away in this huge crowd! It is a miracle we kept track of what was from who (my friend was sitting across from me in the striped sweater and I was basically shouting out the name from the card to her, she'd write it down and then I'd hold up the gift! By that time, Andrew was digging into another! Ha!) We could barely keep up, but she did a great job (thanks, Alissa!) I'll be tackling the thank yous this weekend!
Posing in their masks...Norah, Andrew & Lilly
These are Andrew's two best friends from preschool, Nicholas and Payton. He talks about them both all the time.
Andrew & Landon
Lilly and Andrew- she's such a fashion diva! This is where we get Kerigan's clothes from (for those of you wondering how we always get her dressed so cute! They are hand me downs from the best dressed little girl I know!) We are lucky!
Exhibit A (Lilly's black jacket), but the funny story is her shirt. I have plenty more photos to post from our photo shoot from this day, but her onesie says "Lady Baby Ga Ga." Which is pretty stinking appropriate, considering she IS named after her Ga Ga! Papa Jim found this onesie for her and said she had to have it!
Our family
I love how Andrew is giving daddy a hug. He's always been such a loving little boy!
After the party, grandma and grandpa Huegel came over to play!
Grandma brought Andrew these donuts that went with a card she gave him, and he liked them better than his cake! Ha! Can you tell he was thrilled?
That evening, Uncle Jay and Aunt Rachel and the kids came over for dinner- we got take out from Buffalo Wild Wings- it was so good!
Ha! Uncle Jay trying to get away with giving Kerigan a chip!
She loves sitting up at the table with us in her high chair. She just chills out while we eat- it is so nice! She is such a good baby!
Andrew was having fun playing with his balloons. We brought his decorations home and I redecorated the house for his real birthday on Monday.
Every year I always surprise him when he wakes up and have the house all decked out for his party, but since his party was somewhere else this year, I still wanted to make the house look special for him.
As you can tell...he's one happy little five year old! Daddy and I just got back from Kindergarten registration tonight. I couldn't believe it when we handed in those papers and walked out the door. Our little boy is actually signed up for Kindergarten. I still can't believe he's 5. What a milestone!
We love you buddy! You are AWESOME!
