Inner Monologue: Happy Birthday Luke

We spent three days celebrating Luke's sixth birthday and he could not have loved it more. The past six years with Luke have been a complete and total joy. I know these sound like the typical words of a sentimental mom, but they really are so true. From the time he was a newborn, Luke has been easy - he is happy and kind and enthusiastic, and tries so hard to please others and do what is right. I have had so many people approach me that have interactions with him - teachers, coaches, neighbors, etc, to tell me how much they love and enjoy him. Over the past year I feel like he has grown up so much. It seems like he gets taller and learns something new nearly every day. In some ways it makes me sad because he promised to be my baby forever....but I absolutely love seeing all that he is able to accomplish. I've been trying to keep track of a lot of these details in another post that I will publish soon, but for now, I wanted to focus on his birthday and all of the fun celebrations.

We kicked off the celebrations with Mrs. Arney and his kindergarten class. He had a special chair and privileges all day and then sang him Happy Birthday with claps and jumps during the "cha cha chas". I took treat bags with notebooks, pencils and suckers loved handing them out and having the chance to share with all of his friends. The kids were super cute and so excited.

Mrs. Arney does a balloon for each kid on their birthday and will make it into whatever shape they want. Luke was funny and just wanted the long balloon, no animals, no shapes. When class ended Luke got to be the line leader and we all headed out after him. He loved every bit of the attention.

Luke really wanted to have a birthday party with friends - after talking about several ideas, he finally settled on a bowling party. I told him he could invite two friends - he wanted to invite Drake and Ethan but was a little worried because the two boys don't really know each other. I thought it was cute that he would notice and be so concerned about his friends having fun. It ended up being the perfect mix and the boys all ended up having a great time together. They had a team name and their own cheers, I loved watching them be so encouraging of each other. Of course Ruby tagged along, but she was perfectly content hanging out with me and Erika and being a part of the girls' team.

Go Team!

When he went to bed Friday night Luke was just so excited for it to officially be his birthday on Saturday morning. He had a soccer game at 9:00 a.m. so we had to wake him up early and try to have a quick mini celebration before heading out to play. It was so cute because he told nearly everyone he saw that it was his birthday and loved it when anyone wanted to sing to him. I lost count of how many times I sang him Happy Birthday, but his huge smile and hugs made it all worth it.

We opened a few gifts when he first woke up, but he was excited to come home from soccer and find out that there was still one more big present. He said the new bike was awesome and immediately wanted to go outside and show it off to the neighborhood.

After a busy morning, the birthday celebrations got even better when we told the kids that we were heading to Park City for a sleepover with Grandpa and Grandma Whitesides. We absolutely love staying at the Mountainside resort and it was the perfect way to spend the rest of Luke's birthday.

They were so happy to visit Sunny - their favorite bird.

Any chance to wish him Happy Birthday.

A castle for his new dragon Anora.

Grandma brought presents and a birthday cake - perfection!

By the end of they day they were exhausted...

But oh so happy.

Sunday morning we spent more time in Park City and then headed home for one last party. For months Luke has been so excited to have a BeyBlade birthday party. I was excited to find balloons, table cloths, plates and napkins and a t-shirt to make all of his BeyBlade dreams come true.

Our kids are so lucky to have such great cousins and so many people to love them. Luke and Gavin's birthdays are two days apart and Luke especially loves that they get to celebrate together. The party was basically like Sunday dinner with some extra cake, but Luke loved it and that is all that matters.