Happy 5th Birthday Austin!

This week was a big week for Austin....he turned a whole hand old!

So, to celebrate, on Thursday, he brought cupcakes to share with his entire class. I'm told that his birthday was announced during the school's morning announcements and that his class sang Happy Birthday to him before they polished off two dozen mini cupcakes.

After school, rather than just going home for lunch and doing the same ol' thing we do most afternoons, I took the kids to a nearby indoor playground -- and we invited two of his friends, their moms and siblings to join us. For two hours, the kids ran around, had a blast and barely wanted to stop to eat lunch.

The rest of the day was a little lower key and we had cake and presents after dinner.

On Saturday, we had his birthday party at a nearby bowling alley. It was him, 6 friends, Alex and one of Alex's friends (so that she'd have someone to play with). They bowled for an hour and then we moved into the party room where the kids all got hot dogs and cake. I made the cake again this year - a cake cut out like the number 5 and then done up like street with his favorite Cars characters driving on it.

He had a blast - all the kids did. We had initially told all the parents that they were welcome to drop their kids off and return a few hours later, but many opted to stay...an we're sure glad they did! Otherwise, it may have been a little too crazy.