Life Is Good: Jacob's Birthday Extravaganza

In keeping up with the tradition that birthdays should last longer than a day, we celebrated Jacob's birthday all weekend long!

On Saturday, the 6th, we had his birthday party at the park. Each year I ask him where he wants to have his party and it's always there. The park offers a built-in party so I wasn't about to argue! We arrived early to set up and then Jacob asked me about every 2 minutes when his friends would be arriving.

I hear from a lot of people that my boys look alike. I'm sure that especially applies when they wear the same clothes! They got themselves dressed like this. They love to wear matching clothes, pjs & underwear. I think it's cute cause they choose to do it! It would be way corny if I made them do it. I'm sure this is a very short-lived phase

Jacob & Nauni

Brigham, Jacob & Blake

McKenzie, Jacob, Alek & Hunter

Brigham & Jacob

Jacob & Zachary (bestest cousin)

I felt a little sorry for the other kids. Zachary is a huge Jacob-hog and Jacob picks Zachary to play with over anyone. We had some hurt feelings during the party because Jacob "wasn't playing" with them. I did my best to try & have Jacob distribute his time evenly amongst his friends, but it was a challenge! Not the easy-going birthday party I had envisioned!

The Party Gang

Hunter, Blake, Alek, Chase, McKenzie, Zachary, Jacob & Brigham

I hadn't planned to play any games. I figured the kids would be just happy playing on the playground equipment. That was before some of the guests were feeling a bit left out. We decided to gather everyone to play games. It really helped bring all the kids together. We started with Duck Duck Goose. Funny how classic that game is but we had to teach some of the kids how to play it.

After enough Duck Duck Goose, we played Tag. Another classic, but some of the kids didn't really get the point of running away from the person who was "it".

Jacob finally got to open his presents. He had been asking me since the beginning of the party. I love how excited he gets! His face says it all!

He has been waiting for this Light Saber ever since the summertime. He was with me when I bought it, despite my efforts to hide it from him. I finally had to tell him he would be getting it for his birthday. I'm sure that felt like an eternity to him, but it turned out to be one of the favorite presents! He first asked for this in May when we went to Disneyland. I just want him to appreciate anticipation and the excitement of a new toy!

Jacob LOVED having a Light Saber battle with his dad.

The birthday train carried over into Sunday, the 7th. The primary sang to him and gave him a present. He asked for lasagna for his birthday dinner. Ever since he has been introduced to Garfield, he has LOVED lasagna just like Garfield does. He asks for it all the time. We invited Nauni, Papa, Tiff & Kathleen over to help us celebrate.

Most of Jacob's birthday wishes were centered around Ben 10 Alien. It is his new favorite character. Luckily I found some acceptable toys on clearance a few months ago. He LOVED them!

Nauni & Papa gave Jacob a birthday card with $25 & a zebra beach towel. When Jacob opened his card he said, "I love the smell of money!" Uh-oh.

The ACTUAL Birthday Boy! After all of our pre-celebrations, his birthday finally arrived on Monday, the 8th. He woke up at 6:30 a.m. to go to the bathroom. It was still mostly dark so I was keeping my fingers crossed that he would make it back to his bed for a few hours. Especially since he went to bed late the night before. I even warned them that if they woke up and it was still dark outside, they were to stay in bed and go back to sleep. When Jacob was going to the bathroom, he asked, "am I 6 yet?" I wanted to lie because I knew that would be the end of bedtime for him..but I couldn't. I told him he was 6 but that it was still early in the morning and he needed to get more rest. I tucked him back into bed and told him to try and go back to sleep. 2 minutes later, I noticed the kitchen light on. Jacob was up and asking Trevor for breakfast. I just turned around and went back to bed.

Jacob LOVED getting phone calls from people wishing him a Happy Birthday. He got so excited every time I told him the phone was for him.

McKenzie & Alek came over to help celebrate Jacob's birthday with him that morning. McKenzie has been asking me if she could go inside our trailer for a few weeks now. She only asks me when they are getting ready to leave and we don't have time. I told her to ask me earlier next time and we could. She finally remembered so I let them go inside. Then they asked if they could eat lunch in there. I thought that would be a fun birthday treat for Jacob so I made them some sandwiches & delivered them to the trailer.

Jacob was able to take a treat to school to share with his class. I asked him what he would like to take, fully expecting to have to make something. He answered "OREOS!" I was happy to comply! I've become very lazy these days so picking something up at the store was right up my alley. I didn't even have to deliver them to his classroom. I just stuck them in his backpack! How's that for easy?

While Jacob was at school, I decorated his ceiling with glow-in-the-dark stars. One of his favorite things to do when we go camping is to look at the stars. I used to have stars on my ceiling too when I was younger and I loved it. I also cleaned his room for him. He HATES cleaning his room and I thought that would be a good birthday treat for him to not have to clean it that day. He appreciated them both!

Jacob had a great day at school. He came home with a birthday crown. My mom came over after school to give him his present. He loved his new Batmobile & all the guys that came with it..even though he already had all the guys except for one. He told me how great it was to have extra guys because his old Joker was all dirty and his old Robin's arm doesn't stay up. Hunter wanted to help Jacob break in his new toys, but Jacob was being a tad selfish. I told him to just let Hunter play with his old guys, and he still wasn't swayed. After a few lectures from me & Trevor (who was on the phone during this time), they finally found a way to play together.

I wanted to take Jacob out for his birthday that evening. My plan was to go to Toys 'R Us so he could pick out a toy with his birthday money, then go to Red Robin for dinner. He decided he did want to go to Toys 'R Us but wanted to go to "that pizza store with the play helicopter" (Peter Piper Pizza). I asked if he really wanted pizza or just a play area. He said he just wanted to play. I offered McDonald's to him and he decided that is where he wanted to go.

My kids take a while to choose toys. There is just too much to choose from and they want everything! Plus it is such a rare treat to actually get to go and pick out a toy from the store to buy. We finally narrowed it down to a remote control helicopter that actually flies and a robotic bug. I let Hunter get a pack of cars since he never spent all of his birthday money. We have had this random $5 bill floating around the house since June. Unfortunately, within an hour of being home, the robotic bug stopped walking correctly. The next day the remote control helicopter didn't work as well either. I ended up taking them back and trading them out for new ones.
We'll see if they hold up!

After dinner and playtime at McDonald's we came home and I got them to bed as soon as possible. They had been going to bed late and getting up early all birthday weekend!

Here are some shots of Jacob's birthdays past. Time has flown by. I can't believe how quickly he is growing!