Happy Birthday to J!!

J turned 5 last week.  J is a thoughtful, tender hearted boy.  He has been through so many physical/health issues in his short life, but through it all he has kept a smile on his face.  I have learned so much about patience and enduring your trials well from him.  I have also seen him show unconditional love to everyone around him.  He is a really great boy and we are so blessed to have him as part of our family.

We have a tradition in our home that we ALWAYS have cake in some form on our actual birthdays.  We also decided to celebrate the big birthdays with friend parties and the not so big birthdays with family parties.  The "big" birthdays are 5, 8, 12, 16, and if they are with us 21.

We sent spider web cupcakes to school and had a little family party that night.  Then on Friday, Dad took a 1/2 day so we could do his big party with all of his friends at the fire station.  (Dad is a volunteer fire fighter).  It was so much fun!!!  We had a tour of the fire station, all of the kids got to try on the fire fighter clothes, we played a game, ate junk, whacked a piñata (which I made), and ate cake and ice cream.  Here are some pictures.