Cruz's 6th Birthday

I am still trying to grasp the fact that my first born is now six years old.  He is such a big kid now and loves to remind me that he is growing up.  His baby years just about killed us but I find myself often missing them and wishing I could turn back time.  He is a precious boy and just makes my heart beam with joy and pride.

One of his most favorite things is his birthday and I love to celebrate it big.  Here is a look at how we celebrated this year.

I always take a picture of my boys on their birthday eve.  I don't know why.  I just do.  I also spend a lot of time just sitting by their bed praying for them and watching them sleep.  I think I just want to freeze time and not let their birthday morning come.  

Cruz's last night as a five year old

Once he was asleep I started decorating and setting out his presents.  I like their birthday mornings to be like Christmas. 

This year he wanted a ninja turtle birthday.  Here are a few of his decorations.

Waking up on his birthday morning.  This was his bedroom door decorated for his birthday.  One of the first things he said to me was "mama, I still have all of my teeth!".  We had been talking about the fact that he will probably start losing his teeth when he turns six and in his mind he must have thought that literally when he turns six that all of his teeth were going to fall out.  He also said, "and they are not even loose yet."  He cracks me up!

The kitchen/ dining room was decorated and I had all of his gifts set out for him to open.

ready to open his presents

Our State WMU office collects birthday cards from churches all over our home state of Mississippi and mails them to the Mississippi missionary kids each year.  Getting these cards is always one of my favorite things about my boy's birthdays.  It is like a big, warm hug coming into our home.  It blesses my heart so much that people took time to mail them a card.  Cruz will sit down and open each and every one.  He loves it too!

His birthday breakfast consisted of pancakes and fruit.  His favorite food is pancakes.  

ninja turtle fruit platter

birthday pancakes

Happy birthday, Cruz!

He loves silly string.  I had found some in Guatemala City and got two cans for the boys.  After breakfast we went outside and they had a silly string war.  It was a lot of fun!

ready for action

I am sure we will be doing this again.

family photo

Our family on Cruz's 6th birthday

My cake decorating skills are lacking but I try hard to create fun things for the boys.  This is the ninja turtle cake I made for Cruz.  He loved it!

ninja turtle birthday cake

Some friends joined us for lunch and play time at the local mall food court. 

I had found this ninja turtle pizza idea (top photo) and took the picture to our mall pizza shop and asked the workers if they could make one for Cruz.  The bottom two photos are what they came up with.  It was a fun idea for his ninja turtle themed lunch.

fun with friends

blowing out his candle

We spent the afternoon swimming at Hotel Longarone.  He loves to swim there because it has a waterslide and three diving boards.

swimming at Longarone on Cruz's birthday

The pool has three diving boards- a low, medium, and a high dive.  The highlight of the day was both boys jumping off the high dive.  I never expected either of them to do it.  Cruz said if I would do it he would try.  Of course I jumped on that idea.  I did it and then he followed.  Ben thinks he has to do everything his big brother does so when Cruz jumped in Ben got right out of the pool, walked up the steps, and jumped also.  He never said a word and I was speechless.  I was proud of both of them but thinking at the same time when did they get big enough to do that!!!  Oh my!

Jumping off the high dive which seems much taller than this picture shows.

We ate supper and were in the bed earlier than normal.  It had been a long day of celebration but a very fun one.  I think he enjoyed every minute of his day and I enjoyed making it special for him.

My baby is growing up and even though that tugs at my heart I am very proud of the young man he  is becoming.  This is a sweet stage he is in and I love seeing little glimpses of maturity in him.  We have come a long way since that first birthday!

And, as if my heart wasn't heavy enough, what does he tell me the next morning after his birthday?  "Guess what mama, I'm almost seven now!".  Oh Lord help me.  ha