11 months

Owen turns FIVE

When Owen was 3 he asked for chocolate milk and I told him he had to wait until he was 5. You better believe he made sure I remembered this, as he has reminded me on multiple occasions throughout the past year.

We wanted to make a big deal of this since it was so important to him....

He had his very first chocolate milk and our traditional birthday pumpkin muffin to celebrate turning FIVE!

Ben handled this rite of passage just as we suspected...

I sent muffins to school with Owen to celebrate with his friends and then we had Moe's, per his request, for dinner.

I will admit, Owen turning FIVE has been difficult for me. I tear up as I kiss him goodnight and think about all the things he can do on his own now...all the things he no longer needs me for. I think about how easily I embarrass him when I kiss or hug him, toss him upside down or tickle him in front of his friends; the things that have always made him smile and giggle, now embarrass him.

He is so smart and such a good kid. He loves books and wants to learn to read. His favorite activity at preschool (aside from lunch) is listening books. He loves to build and has just gotten his first real (little)Legos. He is very interested in science and animals. His favorite shoes on TV are Wild Kratts and Cyber Chase.

He is a great big brother and helps me so much with Audrey!

He still loves p-nut butter and jelly sandwiches, mac and cheese, quesadillas and homemade pizzas. He loves pesto, artichokes, tomatoes and broccoli. Drinks milk, but mostly water and apple juice from time to time. Has never had soda or sweet tea.

He has the sweetest smile and chubby cheeks and although HE is FIVE, he still is my baby!

Owen's 5th birthday Party

(I loved these invites I found by Snickerplum on Etsy.)

When Owen said he wanted a Spider-man themed birthday party, I immediately started looking for inspiration on the internet and called a few places looking for a location, but ultimately was won over by the idea of having it at YMCA near our house.

I reserved the climbing wall and 1/2 of the gym for the kids to climb and play. I was pretty pleased with the way things went and the man who helped with the party could not have been more helpful and accommodating!

We had 22 kids including Owen and Ben (well 24 if you include Audrey and Ellie), so needless to say, it was another one of Crystal's crazy parties!

I had this grand vision of the party tables being in front of the climbing wall and when we went to set up, they made us move down the hall in between the men and womens' locker rooms, seriously?! After the grands helped me move the tables away from all the bulletin boards, I was OK and it actually worked out well to be near the gym.

I used felt spiderweb table runners from Pier One, blue table cloths, red plates and Spider-man napkins and masks for the table. (FYI, all those masks had to be assembled. Had I known this, I would have done that in advance! I'm sure the grands would have appreciated that as well!!!)

I try not to fill favor bags with toys and things that'll end up in the trash, so I ordered Cliff Kids Organic Twisted Ropes and Z-bars to fill the bags. I had some leftover blue lunch bags from when I sent snack to one of Owen's soccer games, so I used those and some ribbon from the Dollar store to tie some homemade tags to the bags. These were their "Energy Packs."

I took the labels off the waters and made these spider-man labels and taped them on with packing tape. They were not perfect, but I thought they came out cute. I was afraid if I iced them, the paper would get wet, so I filled plastic bags with ice and put the bags under the waters to keep the ink from bleeding.

I picked some silly string from Dollar General and the Dollar Store (FYI- the silly string from Dollar General was way better and lasted longer.. it's worth the extra $1 per can.) I had this vision of the kids all wearing their masks and spraying each other in the small yard located in front of the Y.

Danny's dad and step mom and my mom where such big helpers in setting everything up, watching Audrey and Ben, and helping gear the kids up for climbing.


We had the climbing wall and "Entertainment" fella for an hour and the gym for the full 2 hours. I think the kids liked the idea of climbing more than the act of. There were a few kids that made it at least 1/2 way and a few of the dads gave it a whirl as well.

In the gym there were several games for the kids to play, lots of balls, lowered goals, bean bag toss, bowling, etc.

We took a break to snack and have cupcakes...
I slacked and ordered cupcakes from Sam's Club instead of making them this time. I couldn't pass up $13 for 30 cupcakes and no mess on my end!
I rented a Spider-man photo-op board from the party store, but only got a picture of Audrey, Grandpa Dan and one other party guest. I think the kids each took a turn in it though.

Spider-man (or woman in this case) made a quick visit to wish Owen a happy birthday.


We played Pin the Spider-man on the web. ( I made a little spider-man for each of the kids and we used tape to make it safer.)
Owen's only request was a pinata and I couldn't see spending $20 on the spider man one, so he picked out the present one for 1/2 price. We filled it with Spider-man fruit snacks, Twizzlers, glow bracelets and spiders.
He and his friends opend presents... he was spoiled with LOTS of great toys, books, games and clothes!
The last few kids made their way to the little yard and had fun chasing and spaying each other with their little "web shooters."

It was a fun day and a birthday I hope he'll always remember!

Happy 5th birthday!