5.12.2010

Happy Birthday, Sweet Jake!


my little guy just turned five. FIVE. how in the world did that happen? on the one hand he seems so grown up. he's very sweet and concerned with how everyone is doing and feeling, he loves to practice reading and writing, he loves to help out with chores (well, sometimes...) but then i look at him and he's so little still. his "s" sounds are still "eth" sounds, he still falls apart when he doesn't sleep enough or eat quickly enough, he still loves to be rocked and sang to (bless him!)... this is such a neat age. he's getting so independent but still needs us so much. thank God!



for jake's birthday his cousins, stasia and ava, and auntie steph and uncle dustin came to visit. we had a dragon-themed party, by his choice. (frankly i was floored when he didn't say he wanted a Thomas the Tank Engine party! he STILL loves to play with his trains!) anyway, we went with dragons, which was a lot of fun. the kids made dragon spoon crafts and we slayed a big dragon cake for everyone to eat.



a little background on this cake...

so last year we did a party with one of jake's best buds, joey. we had a carnival party and jamie (joey's mom) made this insane ferris wheel cake. it was phenomenal. the year before we also had a combined party with him and she and her sister made these beautiful train car pieces of cake. (make sure to click on the links so you can see her gorgeous cakes).

so anyway, this was our first year not doing a party with them and the pressure was on. let's have a fun, unique cake! so i enlisted jamie's help and expertise and we spent about 3 hours making and frosting this stinking cake. oh, and to top it off i had been up until 1am at least EVERY night the week before cutting things for this "simple" dragon craft. now, i chose to do this so i don't meant to sound like i'm complaining, but it did take a ton of time.



friday we are getting all ready for the party, cleaned up, getting the craft stuff together, three hours on the cake, fall into bed about 1am, dead tired. then, as luck would have it, 3am...
"mama, i don't feel very good."
this was the start of a 2-day vomiting spree for my poor little guy. he had a horrible stomach flu and was so sick. it was so sad! we had to cancel the party (mom & prasad had come all the way up for it), throw away the dragon cake and the extra cupcakes...but luckily we were able to have a "re-do" the following weekend. our amazing friends and family put everything aside and made sure to be there for his make-up party! so yes, another three hours on the cake, but worth every minute. jake was so thrilled and had such a terrific time with his cousins, his friends, aunties and uncles, grandma and grandpa... the party was a success and i'm so glad we were able to have one after all that madness.

next year we'll be inviting two friends to the movies. no birthday party!