Mason's birthday

Mason was THRILLED that the birthday fairy decorated the house with streamers and balloons during the night. Actually, it was 4:30am after James left for a day of vet school fun. I knew that if I didn't decorate, Mason's little heart would break. I hope that was the only time I ever blow up thirty balloons at such an ungodly hour.

 Mason turned five last Thursday and he is still beaming about it. In fact, minutes after her woke up, as he tried to climb into McCabe's crib to say hello and happily called out to me, "Look! I can already climb higher now that I am FIVE!!" Later he said, "I'm glad I'm five now 'cause four is closer to little three." Yes, this boy feels mature!

Unfortunately, if you ask Mason, he'd tell you that his birthday was sort of "disappointing". It's safe to say that he used that word to describe something or other throughout the day as it progressed. Thankfully, if you also ask Mason which of his birthdays has been his favorite, he would say his fifth.

For several weeks leading up to Mason's big day, we were excited that we got to spend his big morning on a private tour at the bug museum on K-State's campus. We had been there once before and Mason couldn't wait to get back with a tour guide who would let him hold some of the cool bugs and tarantulas to his heart's content. I ended up inviting some new friends to share the excitement with us. Unfortunately, she was about as flat and dry as could be and did nothing to make our bug lover-birthday boy feel special besides let him wear the birthday hat that he brought himself. Boo. On top of that, he didn't get to hold anything. Just pet a couple bugs and spiders with his pointer finger. He was disappointed.

 Luckily, after we were freed from the watchful eye of the boring lady, we got to pork out on some mini spider cupcakes that we made before the tour. That was not disappointing!

When McCabe saw the cupcake pictures today he leaned in really close to the screen and then actually started smacking his lips! So funny!

 But then one of his new friends almost drowned in the fountain. While I stood two feet from him. (Humiliating. What can I say? Fountains are loud!) That ended our friend adventure on a very scary and sad note. Disappointing.

 When we got home I let Mason open up the jello pack that he had been wanting to taste for for a whole year straight. I refused to buy it for his last birthday, knowing that it wouldn't be any good, but this year I broke and Mason was thrilled! Not only did he get a jello cup, he got a pack of twelve of them!

 Unfortunately, Mommy does sometimes know best. They were nearly void of flavor. None of my boys finished any of them (but McCabe found it quite fun to spread the tasteless gelatin all over the table).

When dinner came around, we presented him with the blue soda drink of his dreams that wiped the blahs away! (I also made his favorite meal of chicken strips (made with bread crumbs and parmesan) but he was far too excited to eat more than a nibble.)

Mason had been looking forward to present time all day long so when we finally finished eating he nearly burst with glee! This whoopee cushion did not disappoint....

 ....until it popped two minutes later. How could the Dollar Store let us down in such a fashion?!!!

 Unfortunately, it wasn't the only one that was a bust:

Mason putting together his big present, only to find that it didn't work. Go figure. We have since returned it and spent the money on a tackle box for our little fishing enthusiast.

But that's okay 'cause they weren't all bad:

L: Helping Poppy set up the flying bat that he spotted at our local home improvement store in the Halloween section. Mason is going to be a bat for Halloween and is currently in love with the winged creature. R: Opening a gift from McCabe that was wrapped in a diaper.

He saw one online the day before his birthday and begged for it for about an hour straight. But there were no bat stuffies in town and no way to get anyone to ship on overnight for us. So Char and I put a show on for Mason later in the day and headed down to my craft room to see what we could do. I am thrilled that it worked! Prayers are answered!

After he unwrapped his gifts (and promised more as soon as the stores opened the next day), we headed outside for his pinata:

An anaconda. I was going to fix it up after we got our candy and put it in the boy's room for a decoration, but when I asked Mason if he would like it, he said, "It will probably give me nightmares....but....YES!" Um...no. I don't feel the need to wake up in the night any more than I already do.

After the younger boys gave it their best shot:

 Mason finally broke through to the goods:

Back inside we went for cake and ice cream. Mason was tickled pink to be sung to but just when the song ended, Charlie blew out the candles. Oops!

 So we tried again:

 Oh well, we tried, right?! Even though Mason was honest about all the failings, he was cheerful about it all day long and thanked us over and over for what we did get right. We love our big five-year-old!

McCabe decorated the gross cake after we had our fill. Mason said that he didn't mind that the cake was gross because he loved his spider cupcakes that we had earlier so much. What a sweety.