Jaden's Big Day

As sad as it makes us to see our little guys get so big, so quickly, birthdays are always very exciting and something we make a HUGE deal about around here. Jaden's birthday was such a special day just to celebrate him and how special he is to our family.

I spent the evening before his birthday decorating the living room with streamers, balloons, and a birthday banner. I was going to cover his bedroom floor with balloons, but Sam talked me out of it, and for good reason - can you imagine getting up to go to the bathroom in the middle of night to a floor covered in balloons; or a balloon popping in your room while you sleep (what was I thinking!?). I wrapped all of his presents and I knew he would be so surprised the next morning!

I got a tennis racquet for Christmas, so now he and I can play together!

Probably his most favorite gift of all -- books (and my favorite gift to give)! While at Target one day, he asked me to get him some of these little leveled readers for his birthday. He was so excited to see that I had remembered his request. The readers he got were Little Critter, Fancy Nancy, and two Toy Story ones.

It was Jaden's special day from beginning to end, so he got to pick a special lunch - Happy Meals!

While the boys napped, I attempted to make Jaden a Buzz Lightyear birthday cake. He loved it and that's all that matters.

Jaden had his choice of restaurants for dinner and was torn between Cracker "Bells" (Cracker Barrel) and Peter Piper. Then I suggested a fun place in El Paso called Jungle Jaks, and he was all for it! So as soon as daddy got off of work, we headed there and met the rest of the family for an evening of fun!

Jaden, Elijah and Aubrey can't wait to get that cake in their hands...

...and Landon would love it if he could just get that hand in his mouth!

Presents - for Elijah too! Lucky boy has some awesome grandparents who didn't want him to feel left out in the present opening. He got an adorable little remote control train.

And Jaden got the Toy Story GeoTrax train set! Thank you Nana and Papa!

One last ride on the bumper boats and bumper cars before it was time to go.

He had such a wonderful day and was so sad to see it all end. But I know this is just the beginning of a year full of fun and adventures to come!