Luke's 5th Birthday Party!

Do we get a badge on our parenting vest for surviving our first Chuck E. Cheese birthday party? While it is loud and noisy and extremely overwhelming, it really wasn't all that bad! I think that all the kids who came had a really good time and Luke absolutely loved it! And, honestly, it's much better than hosting it at home and having to determine what to feed everyone and cleaning house. Ha!

Several of Luke's friends from school and some of our personal friends all joined us for a total of 11 kids who got to experience Chuck E. Cheese today, plus all the adults. Everyone enjoyed playing games, eating pizza and meeting the big mouse (well, almost everyone enjoyed meeting him). Luke and I got to take a turn in the ticket blaster which was fun. I think I'm still pulling tickets out of my hair. We also enjoyed a firetruck birthday cake and Luke got to open lots of presents! It was a good day, but man, I'm exhausted.

The nice thing about doing the birthday party early in the day is we had the remainder of the day to relax. Spring has kind of come for now so we spent the majority of the afternoon outside. I'm trying to work on this dang hill. I mean, really,  we live in the woods. Why do I have to have this stuff landscaped? Anyways, I've been trying to get the weeds off the hill, and some more ground cover to make it look like we at least try.

I am so tired this evening. This week brings more fun stuff. Wednesday is Luke's actual birthday, although he's making us say that he's already 5 (It's hard to understand that sometimes birthday parties and actual birthdays don't coincide). And then Friday, we *gulp* go to register for kindergarten. I'm taking my day off then instead of Monday and Dillon's going to take off, too. We're going to go get breakfast at Waffle House for another birthday celebration, register for kindergarten and then go over to the strawberry festival at the Farmer's Market where we get to sample tasty, fresh strawberries, Luke's favorite! Also, I was going to take Charlie to "school" that day so Luke could have our undivided attention. When I told Luke this, he said that he doesn't have fun if Charlie's not included so we'll have her tag along. She'll probably hang out with Ma and Peepaw while Luke gets registered, but otherwise we'll all have a family day together!

I'll be honest, this 5th birthday is hitting a little hard. I've been looking at pictures of Luke when he was born and a baby and, man, this all just goes so fast. My heart hurts but is glad at the same time. It's a weird feeling. Anyways, here's to year 5 for little Luke!

And PS, toddlers also love Chuck E Cheese. I didn't give her a card because I figured she wouldn't play. My mom ended up buying her points and she had 50 tickets by the end of the day. 

This is my "Put the camera down and help me get these presents to Luke" face. 

Aftermath...