5 and 29!

Happy Birthday to us today!!!! Woot woot!!!!!!!!

My little red-haired, pale skinned, blue-eyed bundle of joy made his entrance on my birthday 5 years ago today! Now that JJ understands how special and uncommon it is that he was born on my birthday, I’ve found that he likes to tell people about it as much as I do! A lady came up to me at the gym the other day and said, “I was talking to your son and I asked him how old he was. He said he was going to be 5 on July 22nd and then he said, ‘I was bwon on my mommy’s bewfday. I was hew pwesent.’” It wasn’t too long ago that he didn’t understand why he had to share his birthday with me, so I would always tell him that he was my birthday present from God. Apparently he is embracing it now!

The boys are actually traveling for tournaments the rest of this week and into the next, so we had to celebrate the big #5 a few days ago.

Our cake maker, my mom, was out of business due to power outages from a wind storm that passed through so I had to order the cake from our grocery store. It will be no surprise to you I’m sure that JJ requested an NBA cake. When I ordered it I picked out the NBA logo and asked them to also put a Miami Heat logo on there somewhere. Apparently they misunderstood and we ended up with a Miami Heat cake! Definitely not custom-made with Grandma Lori love, but anything goes for a Lebron James fan!

This is our usual summer crew with my ‘extra kids’ that are around a few days a week. They also doubled as party guests on this particular day!!!! Can you tell how steamy and bright it is here?!?!

The good thing about having a full house is that good help is easy to find!

For the birthday menu JJ requested fettuccini pasta!!!!!!!! Not my specialty so Paul Newman helped and he made a delicious alfredo sauce, complete with some garlic bread and an additional round of my home-made marinara sauce for spaghetti lovers. However, JJ was so excited to open presents that he couldn’t even eat! He patiently waited on the couch until we all had finished the meal, and then he busted into his stash!

I had forgotten from Christmas last year that JJ was a speedster present unwrapper. He went from one gift to the next as fast as possible without even looking up! He was completely focused in on getting them all opened up as quickly as he could! I think it took him less than 5 minutes! Then, as soon as it was all over he carefully and quietly organized all his gifts and put them away in his room! The only thing he kept out was his Miami Heat backpack which he had to ‘pack up’ right away for the next tournament. Love this kid!

Once cake and ice cream time rolled around, we had to coerce the birthday boy to come inside from his heated one-on-one game with Yaw in the driveway. He could hardly put down his new NBA basketball long enough to blow out his candles….but he did…..

And then in a flash he disappeared back out into the driveway while the rest of us enjoyed his cake!

About an hour or so later once the party was pretty much over, the birthday boy was finally ready to enjoy his birthday food! He requested his piece of cake first…..

And then he asked for his plate of fettuccini. You may not know that the best way to eat fettuccini is to first of all ensure that your mom serves the noodles and sauce separate. Then you sort through the noodles until you find the perfect one….

Dip....

And enjoy!

JJ, I love your unconventional, free-spirited, mind your own, way of living life. They don’t come any sweeter than YOU! HaPpY BiRtHdAy!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love you SOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!