The Birthday Party

Jonah had a great birthday.  I asked him what he wanted to do that afternoon and he said he wanted me and Keith to watch him play and ride his bike outside.  So that is what we did.  The neighborhood kids were out playing too, so Jonah had a great time.  That night he picked his dinner.  He decided on hot dog roll ups and tater tots.  First he told me he wanted a peanut butter sandwich, he is an easy kid to please!  That night I went to an awesome meeting where President Hinckley's daughter (Virginia Pearce) spoke.  She wrote an amazing book called 'A Heart like His'.  The book is great and I highly recommend it.  The meeting was great and I'm glad I was able to go.  We always let our kids stay up late on their birthday and play with Mom and Dad, so Jonah stayed up and played the Wii with Keith while I was gone.  I think he had a great day and felt very special. 

Today we had a party with some of his friends.  Jonah kept saying that he wanted all of his friends in the whole wide world to come.  Jonah is friends with everyone which is one of the things I love about him.  We had to narrow it down to the ones he plays with on a regular basis because we took them to Lowe's for a building project.  I was excited about doing this, but a little nervous as well.  The kids were all so good.  They were all so patient, I was very impressed with all of them. We are so grateful that we had both sets of Grandparents there helping.  They were lifesavers. 

Keith takes the kids for these projects all the time and Jonah loves them.  I'm glad it worked out that they had a project on the week of his birthday. They made monster boxes for Halloween.  The kids were all so excited about them and they were also excited about their apron and goggles.

Jonah was so sweet and said he wanted to invite some girls for Caitlyn.  He likes all of these girls too, but he wanted to make sure that Caitlyn had some friends there for her. 

After Lowe's we came to our house for cake, ice cream and presents.  It has been rainy all week and was wet and cold this morning.  I was really hoping to do this party outside, but figured it wouldn't work when I looked outside this morning.  When we came home from Lowe's the sun was starting to come out and it was warm enough for the kids to play outside. They were happy and so was I!  Jonah got spoiled with lots of fun new toys.  My kids know that they get new toys on their birthday and Christmas and the rest of the year they have to save their own money to buy anything they want, of course that doesn't stop them from asking me for things every time we go to the store. They are learning that they really have to decide what they want and save for it because their allowance doesn't go very far!  I think it's good for them to realize that they have to make decisions about what is most important to them and then save for it.  Jonah got so many new toys that I think he will be just fine for a long time!

Keith did a great job entertaining the kids and playing games with them.  Duck Duck Goose is always a favorite.  I was so happy with how the party turned out.  Everyone was so helpful and all of the kids were so good.  I love making a big deal out of birthdays.  They have always been a big deal to me and it is fun to take some time each year to focus on the birthday child and really make them feel special.  It is also good for Caitlyn and Jonah to be excited for each other on their birthdays and be okay with not getting presents and being the center of attention.  It has been fun to focus on Jonah this week.  I'm so grateful he joined our family 5 years ago.