Matthew's 5th Birthday

I'm not sure who was more excited for his birthday this year, Matthew or me. I was just excited to give him his gifts because I had them picked out for quite a while. (And he loved them just like I knew he would!) Matthew was having a hard time understanding that we weren't going to have a friends party this year. So we compromised and invited a few friends to the pool to swim that afternoon. I intended to get pictures of the kids swimming, but all I managed to take was this little cutie sucking on his finger while sleeping: 

 After swimming we finished up the cake. Matthew had been asking for months for a twinkie cake. So I tried my hand at making a giant homemade twinkie It wasn't a total flop but it wasn't a huge success either. The cake was good, but didn't resemble a twinkie at all. And I didn't have the right materials for filling it and so the filling only went like 1/2 in. into the cake so it was missing that cream filled quality. But we just piped a little frosting onto each piece as we served it and called it a birthday cake! The only consolation was that it did look like a twinkie...when it was upside down.

Justin pretty acurately described it otherwise as just looking like an unfrosted loaf of cake. : ) 

Matthew put his own candles in this year.

 Matthew was quite spoiled this year with presents. Here are just a few:

.His globe and map from mom and dad. He has already had fun looking at them and we put pins on the state map of all the places that are special to us. 

 Riggs gave him Don't Spill the Beans

 And the Evans gave him Mouse Trap. We have already had lots of fun with both. The boys don't even care about playing the real game of Mouse Trap; they just like leaving it set up and then making it trap the mice over and over again.

Matthew's best buddy Riggs (who is moving next year and we are already sad. But check out this scar he got this summer when he got bit by a dog! We sometimes call him Harry Potter now.

 The alarm clock caused quite the meltdown at bedtime. Needless to say Koyle has decided that he wants a clock for his birthday too.

 Brittany asked me what Matthew's favorite candy was. So I asked him just to see what he would say. He described it to me as such: "It comes in a wrapper. And the edges go in and out, in and out, in and out, and its made of chocolate!"

 I love these magnetic building shapes and we are having lots of fun building all kinds of things.

Trying to get a normal picture of this kid is almost impossible.But I did get a couple of good birthday pictures of this sweet boy. He is getting so grown up and I am constantly observing things he does that show he is maturing and becoming more independent. We love him so much! 

I was so worried about how this year would go with him at home instead of going to kindergarten but I think we are going to thoroughly enjoy our last year together.