Turning Five, Part One

It's a big deal.

Just ask Tobin.  He knows that going from four years old to five...well...it matters.  :)

From the moment he opened his eyes yesterday morning, he was in full-blown, let's-celebrate-this-birthday mode.  My eyes were forced to open because as he climbed down the ladder from his top bunk, he shouted out, "Mom, I'm coming to help you make my cake!"

"Tobin," I whispered in my sleepy morning voice, "I'm still in bed!"  So he came and snuggled with me for a little bit, but do you think he went back to sleep?

Not a chance.  :)

Jeff had already left for work, but we found this in the kitchen: a sweet birthday greeting that let a newly-turned-five-year-old know that his daddy was thinking about him.  :)

It read:

Dear Tobin,
I am so happy you are 5 years old now!  Wow!  I love you so, so much!
Dad
P.S.  Can I eat one of your gummy dinosaurs?  :)
P.S.S.  I fixed your ship stand.
P.S.S.S.  I can't wait to get home to be there for your birthday (& cake!).

The ship stand, by the way, was for this...

...a gift for Tobin for Christmas that Jeff ended up spending hours putting together for Tobin (and Tobin had fun painting and playing with).  But that's beside the point.  Getting back to the birthday...  :)

God gave Tobin a special day by making the weather beautifully sunny and unseasonably warm.  A 70 degree day in the middle of January?  OK, we'll take it!!  ;-)  The boys got to spend LOTS of time outside, and they especially enjoyed bouncing on the trampoline again after a fairly long absence from it.

Even though making the cake was the first thing on Tobin's mind when he woke up, we actually didn't start making it until afternoon quiet time; and it was heavenly to work on the cake together--just Tobin and I--without a bunch of interruptions (not to mention, without anybody bickering about whose turn it was to pour the vanilla into the cake batter or how many scoops of sugar did so-and-so get to put in, etc.).  :)

Because I was wearing an apron, Tobin wanted to wear one, too, so I got out this plastic Scuffy the Tugboat smock for him, and he was happy.  :)

He's actually becoming quite a good little helper, and working together with him on this made the cake-making project (which is truly one of my favorite parts of the kids' birthdays; I LOVE making their cakes) even more fun than it usually is.  :)

When I put the cake in the oven to bake, Tobin headed downstairs for some quiet time...

...which got really quiet.  :)  He usually doesn't take a nap, but clearly all the excitement of turning five just tuckered him out.  I never get tired of watching him sleep.  :)

And speaking of sleep...  I was trying really hard tonight to finish this record of his birthday, but my brain is getting fuzzy and my eyes are drifting shut.  Unless I can sleep-type (hmmm, that might be interesting!), I'd better call it a night and do the rest of this tomorrow.

I think I'll just tiptoe over and give my new five-year-old another kiss though before I crawl under the covers.  :)