Chase's 5th Birthday Fun

I cannot believe that we are over half way through January and I am just now getting around to blogging about the fun we had for Chase's birthday and Christmas.  I can't believe how busy, I mean slack, I have been.  Don't get me wrong, life with three boys is always busy.  There's always something that needs to be done, someone who needs me or tummies that are hungry.  I'm thankful for the things that keep us busy but sometimes a little down time, enough time to get some blogging done, is nice.  I threw dinner in the crock pot this morning so this afternoon all I thought about was resting a little and blogging a lot! :)  ... Now, time to get caught up!!

Chase's birthday was so much fun this year.  I decided that this year, and probably for most birthdays from here on out, we would do something fun with family.  This year for Chase's 5th birthday we decided to give Chuck E Cheese a try. 

It was SO much fun and so perfect for what we were doing.  I booked the party first thing in the morning so we all arrived around 10:00.  There was no one there.  It was our party and one other small party so we practically had the place to ourselves.  The workers were there waiting for us and we had one worker who did everything for us. 

We had some of our most favorite people there to play and celebrate Chase's birthday.  My parents came from Hilton Head, Aunt Anna and Uncle Jake came from Florence and of course we had our Columbia family there too.  Chase was so excited to see everyone and just couldn't wait for the fun to begin!!  We started out playing a few games.  We had a TON of tokens.  Booking a party the first time slot automatically gave us 100 extra tokens and then the tokens that came with the party package.  We were set for lots and lots of games.  I think the adults enjoyed it just as much as the kids did! :)  My dad and Charles really got into a few games and to say they are both competitive is an understatement!!  It was a lot of fun!!

After a little while of game playing they were ready to bring the pizza out for the kids.  They ate a little pizza and then Chuck E Cheese himself joined the party and it was so great.  Chase's reaction to seeing Chuck E was priceless... it makes me so anxious to take him to Disney World one day.  We all enjoyed the show where they made Chase the center of attention and then enjoyed cake and ice cream.

Presents were last and then time to use up the rest of the tokens.  Chase loved his time at Chuck E Cheese and can't wait to go back one day.

On his actual birthday we planned to have two of his little school buddies over that evening for pizza and a movie.  We woke up and made Chase a special birthday breakfast.  He got to open one more present from Mom and Dad and it was Cars 2, the movie he and his buddies were looking forward to watching that night.

Chase had some special one on one time that afternoon with Daddy.  They went out to lunch and did a few special things together.  His little friends from school showed up just before dinnertime that night and the weather was nice enough for them to play outside.  They had a blast running around and playing together.  It was a nice filler while we were waiting on the pizza!

Then they came in, all washed their hands and got to the table just in time for cousin Emma and the pizza to show up!!  They all enjoyed their dinner as well as singing Happy Birthday and eating cupcakes.  Chase opened the presents his friends brought him and he couldn't have been more thrilled with what each of them picked out for him. 

Once the presents were opened we settled down, turned the movie on and popped some popcorn.  Chase, Brandon and Mazzy didn't seem to move for the entire movie.  They were all so into it.  Jacob and Emma on the other hand enjoyed playing during the movie.  When the movie was over I took Chase and his buddies home.  It was the perfect little celebration and I see many more of these types of birthday "parties" in our future! :)

Chase has changed so much the last few months and he has really seemed to grow up a lot.  For all those mommies out there who are about to pull their hair out because of the three and four year old behavior, HANG IN THERE!!!  It does get better!  I know we'll still have our challenging times with Chase and we'll still go in and out of phases that I will pray go away quickly, they change, mature and grow up so much around their fifth birthday.  He is such a smart, considerate, kind, and loving boy and I can't wait to see what this year holds for him.  Kindergarten for one and only the Lord knows what else! :)