FIVE

Five years ago today my life changed forever. Today is the day Mason was born & I became a mother.

Shane captured this picture less than a minute after Mason was born. It is my absolute favorite picture I have from that miraculous day. There is so much raw emotion captured in this picture & when I look at it I relive that exact moment all over again.

 

After struggling with infertility for almost 7 years I never thought I would ever be given the chance to be a mother. But here I am....Mama to a 5 year old!! How is this even possible?

 

As much as I miss the sweet little baby Mase once was, I absolutely love the little boy that he is becoming! He is so thoughtful, smart, loving, funny, sweet & oh so full of sass - just like his Mama :)

He is becoming this little person who is full of questions, thoughts, funny answers & tons of personality. He has somehow turned 5 years old in a blink of an eye & this is one milestone this Mama is having a tough time with :( 

He is no longer a baby, but not yet a "big kid". He'll be starting kindergarten this fall & maybe that is why he seems so big!? He is becoming more & more independent each day & a little piece of my heart dies every time he tries to prove to me (& himself) that he can do things without anyone's help. Ugh - can time just slow down a little?

 

Today we are celebrating this amazing day by having a birthday party for him with all his friends. He wanted a Ninja Turtle party & so that is the kind of party he got!

We ended up having his party at 360 Gymnastics which is an awesome place to have a birthday party. It is not expensive, large party rooms that can handle a ton of kids, wears them out & they have TONS of fun!

 



We got there a bit early, decorated the party room & got everything set up.

 

The party table was decked out with Ninja Turtle coloring pages, crayons & party masks for all the kiddos.

Since the party was being held later in the afternoon we decided to not serve food & just have cake & ice cream. The cake was made by a lady who goes to my church & she did an amazing job! Mason absolutely LOVED his Leonardo cake! It was a white cake so I ended up making chocolate cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream frosting for a little variety! They too were a hit with the party-goers!

The party started out downstairs in the gymnastics room where the kids were able to play, jump & run for an hour! There was a private instructor there who helped the kiddos do gymnastics & kept them in line when they got a bit too rough!

 

Those kiddos were all over the place having SO much fun & burning off tons of energy! I managed to get a few of them to stop for a hot second so I could get a few pictures....

The last 10 minutes of gym time the instructor got out a huge parachute where the kids (& some adults) all grabbed an end & had a ton of fun making a tent with it!

And then the birthday boy got to sit in the center of the parachute where everyone sang Happy Birthday to him! He was grinning from ear to ear :)

Afterwards we all headed upstairs to the party room for cake & ice cream. We had Mason blow out his candles while everyone sang Happy Birthday & then I cut the cake while my adult "helpers" handed out the juice & ice cream.

The kiddos all colored while patiently waiting for cake/ice cream so I was glad I had thought of that idea.....thank you Pinterest!

After the kiddos stuffed themselves full of cake & ice cream the party started to wind down & it was time to leave. Mason handed out everyone's party favors to them, hugged them & thanked them for coming to his party - so sweet! Everyone seemed to have so much fun & some of the kids even told him it was the best birthday party they have ever been to :)

For the party favors I ended up buying Mini-Murph pepperoni pizzas from Papa Murphy's & printed a fun little adhesive to stick on the pizza box. They turned out super cute & an awesome idea since the Ninja Turtles LOVE pepperoni pizza!



Once everything was cleaned up we all headed back to the house to open birthday gifts & eat pizza! The Mama's & kiddos from my Mama Tribe also joined us back at the house. Mason had so much fun opening all his gifts & he & the kiddos all played with his new toys after they were all open.

 

After Mason finished opening all his gifts, the kiddos made their pepperoni pizzas from the party & I put them in the oven to bake while they went & played. While we were waiting for their pizzas to bake I opened up a bottle of wine for the adults, ordered a large pizza to be delivered & whipped up a garden salad for us to eat. It ended up being a perfect ending to a perfect afternoon spent with close friends celebrating our birthday boy!

Happy Birthday to our little Mase Man! Mommy & Daddy are looking SO forward to what FIVE has in store for you!!!

Party Details: for those who are interested
Invitations: Etsy - TimmyCatShop
Party t-shirt: Etsy - RissasRagstoStitches
Cake: local private baker
Cupcake Toppers: Etsy: partycupcake
Pizza box labels: Etsy: LizzyCakeDesigns
Ninja Turtle decorations: Party City & Walmart
NT coloring page: Pinterest