5th Birthday Parties

On the morning of Pearce's birthday, he woke up to a room full of balloons and his birthday gifts from Mommy and Daddy and GG.  We gave him a new iPad mini which he was so excited to get since he had been without one for a while.  He has a new set of rules with it and has done really well with those  GG gave him a football field goal which is so fun to play with outside, a stomp rocket, and some cute new football books.  He LOVES shooting off his rockets at the park and always makes new friends when we bring it to the park :)  For Pearce's 5th birthday party, he wanted to have it at Chuck E. Cheese's.  It was so great because it really did not take much planning at all.  I asked Pearce who he wanted to invite and the list kept growing and growing :)  We ended up inviting everyone in our playgroup plus a few other friends.  Only a few couldn't come, so it was a big group, but so much fun!!!  I got 2 birthday shirts made for Pearce....was only planning on one, but the original was a different brand of shirt and ended up being smaller than I wanted, so I quickly ordered another one from a different girl and it turned out so cute!  I let Pearce choose the design and he chose a Razorback :)  So, having a party at Chuck E. Cheese's could not be easier....I did everything online and we got the cake and party favors from them plus pizza, of course!  Pearce's birthday fell on a Wednesday, so we decided to just have it that evening from 5:00-7:00 and that worked out perfectly because it wasn't crazy crowded!  I felt so weird walking out the door with just a laundry basket to collect the gifts, but they took care of everything....it was great.....expensive, but great!!  Right after Christmas, I was putting away all of his new toys and I said, "Hey Pearce, what if for your birthday party, your friends bring things to give to the animals at the animal shelter instead of toys for you since you already have so many new toys?  Your family will still give you toys for your birthday, but your friends could bring supplies and toys for the animals that don't have a home and then you could take those things to the animal shelter."  I totally thought Pearce would say no way, BUT, he is always talking about the doggies and kitties that don't have a home and how he wants to adopt a doggy from the animal shelter when Sissy goes to Heaven :)  I had taken him to an animal shelter last year just on a whim and it really made an impression on him.  So, he thought about that idea for a few seconds and I'm not even exaggerating....he said "Oh yeah, I would love to do that and then I could play with a doggy, too!"  I couldn't believe he was so quick to say no to gifts from his friends...but he LOVED that idea.  Chris even told him to think about it for a while, but nope, he was set on that idea and never gave it a second thought....my sweet animal loving little boy!!!!  So, on the invite, I made a list of things that the animals shelter would like to have and all of Pearce's friends were soooo generous with their donations!  A couple friends even included a little toy for Pearce which was so sweet!  Everyone had such a fun time at the party and there were several kids that had never been to Chuck E. Cheese's before, so they really had a fun time!  The kids got to play the games for the first hour and then it was time for pizza, cake, show, and the "Ticket Blaster."  Pearce got to invite one friend to go in the chamber with him and grab as many tickets as they could....he chose Claire to go in with him and it was so funny!  Everyone played games some more and then it was time to go.  Pearce said "This was the best night of my life!"

Pearce also wanted to go to the lake for his birthday, so we left the next day and had ANOTHER birthday party for him!  Mama made the BEST chocolate cake I have ever had.  It was seriously soooooo good!  Mama and Papa gave Pearce some money and a set of Magna Tiles.  He had been wanting Magna Tiles ever since playing with them at one of his friends' houses.  He even used his birthday money to get another set, so now he has bunch of them and has so much fun building with them.  Auntie Jen gave him the game Guess Who and oh my gosh....we love this game!  Auntie Ashy gave him Bop It....another super fun game where you have to do what it says....Pearce and I have competitions with who can get the highest score....so far Pearce has the high score!  We had such a fun, relaxing weekend at the lake....lots of fishing, playing outside with Annie, walks to the water, roasting marshmallows, and watching movies at night.  Pearce is never an early riser and would much rather sleep in, but when at the lake, he wakes up around 7:30, goes out to see Papa and Annie and by the time I get up, they've usually done quite a bit :)  Pearce loved taking Annie to the water and watching her run and play in it...he keeps asking how many more sleeps until summer because he is just cannot wait to go swimming with her!