Joey's 5th Birthday

Our Joey turned five last month! I wanted to do a simple party for him, and maybe it was considered simple by Pinterest standards, but it ended up being busy and a blast. 

Here is the invite we sent out for his birthday party. With no family in town, it was easier to control how many people we could invite! (We love family, but gathering both our families together is quite a bit. That's why last year we only invited boy cousins around Joey's age to cut down on how many people we had to cater to in our tiny apartment!) We sent it out to two of Joey's friends from school, three or four families from church, and another Ophthalmology Resident's family.

I refused to do a Paw Patrol theme (I'm done with it even if the boys aren't).
Instead I planned a fire fighter theme and it worked out nicely.

 On Joey's actual birthday we brought donuts to his class. Joey was pretty excited about that.

Even Daddy could make it!

Donuts and juice in the hot sun.

 He opened a couple presents on his birthday from us and Grandma Hobbs (or Jeep Grandma). Here is is FAVORITE present by far: a kid's digital camera, complete with video options, editing, and games!

Thanks Grandma!

 Here's what we got him:

A Big Boy Bike! Way too big for the tricycle now.
He likes it but isn't too fond of riding it yet.

 The day of the birthday party forecasted rain, and we set it at a park! We told everyone it was still going to happen, but were prepared to cut it short if we got rained out. Although the park benches and tables were really wet, it stopped raining for the couple hours we were out there! A birthday miracle. We provided a hot dog lunch with toppings, a melon salad, chips, and water. We also grabbed a couple of the boy's firetrucks for the kids to play with.

The lunch set up.

My homemade cupcakes. Vanilla colored red, orange, and yellow inside
with a vanilla frosting on top. Some had chocolate chips
to give it a Dalmatian look. Not bakery quality, but very tasty!

I was worried I wouldn't have enough. I was fine.

Our first guest to arrive: Joey's friend from school (this is actually his sister).

Fun things to do until everyone arrives.

We provided a piñata and as worried as I was that it wouldn't break, there were enough kids to make it work. I didn't get Joey :'( but here are some other kiddos. Some other kids at the park joined the fun at the end and I was happy to oblige (their parent wasn't being that interactive with them).

Eli's attempt.

The Giles' little girl.

Joey's other friend from school.

After lunch and the piñata we opened gifts. Everyone was so generous! I do the "spend the same amount as their age" rule (we have a lot of nieces and nephews so it adds up quick!), but Joey got some awesome gifts! Thank you (if you ever come across this blog)!

One happy kid.

 After singing happy birthday, eating cupcakes, and cleaning up, it was the perfect time to head to the fire station down the street. Mostly everyone came to this too!

Talking about their biggest truck.

They were so nice to us!

Eli's turn to sit in the hot seat.

A friend from church.

Joey sounding the alarms.

Birthday boy in heaven.

Will he end up here when he grows up? He thinks so but we'll see.

Here's the friend from school!

Enjoying Station 38.

I turned the corner and happened upon this guy.
Gave me a fright at first.

Taking turns spraying the bubbles.

Daddy and Eli.

The kids ended up in the bubbles, but luckily it's just soap and it cleaned their shoes.

The end of an awesome birthday party.

We headed to church the other day and there was an accident on the freeway. There was a big fancy firetruck there to help and I noticed the 38 on the side. It was the same truck everyone toured! Thank you to those who risk their lives in helping others!

Another note: Sam usually isn't into birthday parties (the cost? the stress? both?), but he said to me afterward that it was really fun and we should do things like that more often. Maybe it's because we actually make friends in the process? But it was a success and the parents were impressed with how it went. We were impressed too!

Happy Birthday, silly boy!