Partying Like a 5 Year Old!

The past two days has been party central here at the Whittaker household. Yesterday was Beniah's 5th birthday which we celebrated as a family with banners, balloons, and singing galore.

Beniah kept grinning a goofy, embarrassed grin whenever he got "Happy Birthday" sung to him.

 Since Tim had to work that night, we did the majority of the gift opening in the morning after breakfast.

Beniah requested pancakes for dinner, so I made him some birthday cake pancakes from a Pinterest recipe.  Silly mama that I am could have made him some of my regular blueberry pancakes and he would have been just as happy.

Cake (made by the lovely Grandma Whittaker so that I could rest more) soon followed dinner.

Which was then followed by calls from Aunties, Uncles, and cousins.

  Proof that he was listening to your singing Auntie Jo and not just reading his book! :)

Soon, it was bedtime (much to my relief) for the next day was the highly anticipated bowling alley birthday party at Big Al's!

 There was bowling!

 We love Beniah's arm flap of excitement!

 Elijah got a spare on his first frame (with a bit of help from his Daddy) which made him SO excited 

but left him disappointed in his bowling the rest of the time.

There were friends and friends who are also cousins!

There was even more bowling!

 There was pizza and cupcakes!

There was presents!

Yeah for really cool planets that can hang from your ceiling! 

Beniah tried to convince me to hang them up before his rest time after the party. Ha! Nice try kiddo.

There was the assembling of presents with Daddy once we got home!

 There was leftover pizza for dinner (since Mama was WAY too tired to cook)!

(Apparently the Hot & Delicious Pizza made just for me was made by the Devil himself!)

Beniah had a wonderful time bowling and asked as we were getting ready to leave, "Mama, when can we come back to Big Al's?"  I'm thinking this is going to become a monthly family game day (as long as it's over before nap time.

March Madness (Whittaker Style)

Here is a quick peek at the reasons why I have been remiss in blogging this past month. I've been...

Playing horsey for our two year old while finishing up packing.

Watching Beniah "help" Daddy move a queen size mattress.

Getting the boys down to sleep on our first night at our new apartment (complete with Cars 2 and Mario Kart Wii sheets)!

Having a busy moving day with the help of wonderful friends....

...and Grandmas who made sure the boys stayed out of the way (while loading them up with candy).

Filling pockets with random junk that fell under beds and dressers.

 Relaxing in a box filled front room, the morning after the move.

Watching Beniah "instruct" Daddy in how to set up the cable box.

 Finding the local park and testing the slide (the boys tested it not me!).

Locating our mailbox (and making sure that there are a total of 24 mailboxes)

Making sure Elijah didn't kill someone while "helping" Daddy set up the new bunkbed.

 

Overhearing pretend phone calls with Daddy.

 

Having a real Skype sessions with a cousin in Singapore (who received a detailed tour of our place including viewing all 6 thermostats. Sorry about that Danny).

Laughing over silly faces...

... and "I'm cool" faces

Setting up pretend spy games (which gets turned into spider games).

Discovering a tiny bit of beautiful nature in our patio area.

 

Fun with Cousins

Mario Kart is so much better when there is a friend to play with you (even if they are in Hawaii).

A Good Ol' Chat

There are days, when one must have a good chat with a friend (who happens to be your cousin). 

In those instances, hand puppets bring out the best conversation starters.

 

If all else fails, a good silly face is sure to please!

 

Just be sure to not tell anyone that Auntie Heather was the first to start the silly faces.

A Christmas Restored: Part Four Merry Newmas

This Newmas had a very different feel to it than past Christmas celebrations at the Whittakers.  Instead of 8 children running around and playing (or just looking oh so cute while being held in someone's arms), there were 3 kids.  Distance kept 3 of the 5 Whittaker siblings away, so we celebrated with a much smaller group.

First is fondue!

Then comes stockings.

The boys were the elves and passed out the stockings and presents to everybody and each other.

Fellow paparazzi

And break for skyping with very much missed cousins.

Finally, present time!

Elijah is showing Auntie Kim how much he loves his new Hawaii shirt.

I made Clara an owl pillow which her parents loved and she was attempting to love.

 

 Elijah was so fun to watch this Christmas. 

Every gift he opened he gasped in surprised and loved it!