Wes's 5th Birthday

We have attended a lot of big elaborate birthday parties and also smaller more intimate birthday celebrations over the years.  B and I have often wondered how we will do 4 birthdays each year and not fall into that trap of bigger and better each year. Yes, I have a pinterest account and I'll pin things, but I don't feel like I have to do everything I pin.  So we always ask families what their birthday philosophy is and we finally heard one that we loved, so we stole it.  The family also has 4 kids pretty close together, so it works perfectly for us and our kids understand too.  Every year for a birthday, either I will cook a meal of their choice or we will go out to eat where-ever they pick.  If they choose to eat out, they can also choose to bring the entire family, or just a special meal with Mommy and Daddy.  If it's a multiple of 5 birthday, then we will do a "party".  This year (2016) was W's 5th birthday so we threw him a party.  He picked an Angry Bird theme so I started pinning away.  We hosted at the house and invited W's friends that he picked.  Since W wasn't in Kindergarten yet, he didn't have school friends, but he did have church friends and neighbor friends.
We played some Angry Bird inspired games, like a water balloon toss using B's sling shot to hit boxes, and a balloon toss pretending they were eggs.  We also played Pie Face, which was probably the favorite.  We ate Angry Bird Pizza's that B actually create from pinterest, but they turned out super cute.  After eating, W opened his gifts and he was so excited about each one.  He showed genuine enthusiasms for each present, and gave a heartfelt thank you to each family.  It was really sweet to watch.
Once it got dark, most people left and we let the kids watch a movie before bed.  We loved celebrating W and it was really meaningful to the family because it doesn't happen every year.  I think this will help our kids appreciate their special birthday parties even more, but we also spent time planning it and asked W what he wanted.  I ordered the birthday cake from Wal-mart and it was an Angry Bird them as well.  R helped me color pages to decorate the house and we bought a piñata in the shape of the green pig.  I forgot about the piñata.  It was a definite hit as well.

W on his birthday being silly in the van

B used his artistic abilities to make Angry Bird Pizzas

Pie Face was a big hit

Joe P, Xavier, Jeffrey, Abe, Ell, Rin, Faith, Selene, and W

W got the first swing at the pinata