Elijah turned FIVE!

I was super bummed that I had to work half the day on Elijah's birthday, but it ended up not being so bad after all. I skipped the gym this morning so I could be home when he woke up. We spent a good 20 minutes cuddling and talking in my bed before the day really started. Its sweet moments like those that make being a Mom the best job ever! So the little guys stayed home with Manny while I worked in the morning, but to my happy surprise they came to visit me at the office with Elijah's birthday doughnuts. Elijah proudly wore his yellow birthday boy crown that the 2 of us made this morning. After work the four of us celebrated the big 5-year-old with a lunch at Chili's {which involved a good deal of Ezekiel fussing and squirming in his chair}. Elijah wasn't in a mood to eat so he nibbled on his chicken fingers while snuggling up close next to me in the booth. I didn't mind. Manny had to go to work then, so the boys and I headed over to my Grandma's house for a birthday visit. It's been so long since we spent time at her house. They LOVE it there! I can't blame them. I loved her house too when I was young. Their appetites picked right up when Grandpa offered to pop popcorn and give them apple slices and oreos. What's not to love about that? After snack time, it was outside time. And it was a LOVELY day out! The 100+ temps have finally let up and we're enjoying lower 90s this week with very low humidity. The two of them had a hayday in the toolshed, checking out all the fun stuff, drawing with sidewalk chalk and splashing in the rain water buckets that Grandma keeps under the gutters. Then the big five-year-old decided that he's old enough to climb the tree all by himself {with the help of a 5-gallon bucket to stand on}. I'm sure in his mind it seemed like he was a hundred feet in the air. When actualy the highest he got was no taller than my shoulders. But you could see the sense of accomplishment he felt in the beaming expression on his face. He talked about his tree-climbing excursion for the rest of the day! I'm so proud of my guy! After the boys were sufficiently dirty, sweaty, and wet we headed over to my parents' house for birthday dinner. Dad had a late meeting so it was just the boys, Mom, and me. We grilled steak and zucchini, had oven fries, and a nice salad for supper. Elijah, taking on his roll of "bigger kid" now cleaned his plate off, which is totally unlike him! Then we enjoyed some amazing chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting.  Yes, as you can see in the photos, he blew out the candles twice because it was so much fun the first time!  After getting our fill of chocolate, we decided to celebrate his birthday by sharing cupcakes with the neighbors. So we went door do door, offering to share with anyone who would take some.  Then it got dark so we walked back to Mom's house and called it a night.  So as birthdays go, I think Elijah had a great one. 

Happy five years to my handsome, caring, sensitive, funny, smart, hard-working, observant,  energetic, little blessing! You are the absolute light of my life. My days are happier and fuller than I would have ever thought possible because you are in them. "I can't stop loving you."