Ben's 5th Birthday Celebration

This past weekend we celebrated Ben turning five years old.  His birthday fell on Easter Sunday this  year.  I was not real excited about that because 1)  I love celebrating his birthday and 2) I love celebrating Easter.  I did not really want to combine the two into one celebration so instead I chose to celebrate his birthday on Saturday and Easter on Sunday.  That way both occasions felt special. 

I always decorate our dining area on their birthday eve and have it festive for them to see when they wake up the next morning.  This year he chose a Minion theme.  He had initially chosen an Iron Man theme and after much planning on my part he changed it at the last minute.  He ended up with Minion decorations and already bought Iron Man gifts.  He loved it!

our dining room decorated for his birthday

I also set out their gifts the night before.  They love waking up and seeing what they got.

Cruz colored these decoration to put on their bedroom door.  I always decorate their bedroom door for their birthdays.

Ben waking up to celebrate his birthday

What he asked for the most for his birthday was five Hot Wheels and five gumballs (he said five because he was turning five).  He was very happy to get those things!

I love his expressions as he opens gifts. 

Iron Man costume

He has worn it night and day since he opened it.  Both of my boys have always loved costumes.

new Legos

my little Iron Man

birthday breakfast

Ben with his birthday cake

I baked him a lemon cake with lemon icing.  It is one of his favorites.

family photo for Ben's birthday

That evening we invited another family over to help us celebrate.  We began the party with an Easter egg hunt. 

I made these Minion eggs as our prize eggs

all they really wanted was the candy

Hooray for candy!

For supper we had pizza, popcorn, jello, and birthday cake.  We then set up our projector and watched a movie.

ready to sing to Ben

Happy birthday, Ben!

It was a fun day and night and he was very tired by the time he went to bed.  Another birthday tradition I do with my boys is take their picture as they sleep on their birthday eve.  I also spend some time just watching them sleep and silently wishing that I could stop time.

He is growing up fast!  I hope he will always know that he is greatly loved.