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Wow, it is hard to believe that Keegan is already 5…we reached the last page of his baby book-which means I have less than a year to actually complete it. (-:

Anyway, my little guy is getting big. This year he had been really anticipating the big event. This time around I did not want to deal with the stress of weather forecasting, so by the end of October we reserved our spot at Pump It Up, and indoor play area filled with 4, huge inflatables. I had never seen the place, but heard great things, and Keegan saw one of the locations and was enthusiastic. Of course, at first he was disappointed I did not book Cuck E Cheese, but this is where I draw the line.With the location settled, I only had to stress about the party itself.

We started the preparation a few days before, with our annual trip to the store to order the cake. Keegan originally wanted a very expensive, three tiers Cars cake, but I convinced him to pick a simpler one. The winner was Captain America, and this year, they even spelled his name correctly. I did not think it was that exceptional, but Keegan loved it and that is all that matters.

Back at home, Keegan helped me putting the goodie bags together. He had a great time, but the whole process took more than two hours (for 24 bags). The final result was worth it: they were very cute bags.

all the supplies are sorted out

Keegan being a good helper

Each kid got dinosaurs gliders, a mini stress ball, a space sticker scene, stickers, space stamper, a rocket bookmark, marshmallow, and Keegan’s birthday personalized m&m’s.

This year December 3 fell on a Monday, so we planned the party for the day before, in the late afternoon. I was a little worried about a late party, but it turned out to be perfect: the kids got really tired, had dinner, and crashed. The hardest thing was to manage Keegan’s excitement: he was literally bouncing off the wall, and was quite a handful the whole weekend, leading up to the party. Nonni and zia Cinzia, zio Sandro and his cousins called and wished him a happy birthday. He was hard for him to stay still since he was so excited, and even Skype was a challenge.

After the usual RSVP game, we ended up with 18 kids (2 were sick and could not attend). Honestly this was the best party for us. We really did not have to do much. Matt stopped by Costco and got some food supplies, then we picked up the cake, and we headed over. The staff brought out a cart for our stuff, and took care of everything. They monitored the kids, set up the room, and then gathered our gifts and cleaned everything up.

Right at 5pm, the kids watched a safety video, and then they were unleashed inside. It was a nice place, reserved just for us, with a huge slide, an obstacle course and two other large jumpies. Upbeat music was leading the kids on.

Since it was only us, most of the parents joined in the festivities and jumped or slid down the slides. I guess we all brought our inner child out to play. The kids were mostly independent, so we had the chance to relax, take picture and just chat. With the exception of a couple of short lived dramas, all the kids, from big (8years old) to small (2 years old) had a blast.

the fighting bouncie was a big hit, literally…
 

Natalie, dazed and exhausted

After an hour and a half, the kids got a chance to catch their breath and posed for a group photo or two.

Then, sweaty and starving, they were lead into the party room, which was nicely decorated. All the presents were piled on one corner, and plates were waiting with warm pizza, chips and fruit. The adults got a few healthier choices as well. Keegan was surrounded by all of his girls. Coincidence? Kenzie was sending him kisses from across the table.

There was a large, inflatable throne…which I had to try on. I felt like royalty…and after all, Keegan would not be here if it wasn’t for me, right? So I deserve some recognition too. (-:

But of course, the throne was for the birthday boy, so Keegan enjoyed his moment in the spotlight, while all his friends sang happy birthday. He loved this part, and was all smiles. Then he blew the candles out…in 4/5 takes.

My little prince kindly shared his throne with me.
 

He got the first slice of the cake and then all the friends followed.

By 7, we were all done, and the staff gathered our gifts in large bags and we loaded them up with our limited leftovers.

look at all these gifts…one spoiled little boy
 

We already told Keegan that no presents would be opened till the following day, his actual birthday, and honestly, he was so tired he did not complained. He went to bed easily and we got everything ready for the big day. First order of business was placing Fifi, our elf on the shelf, on the tree, with a birthday card in his hands.

Keegan had insisted Fifi (the creepy little doll that is supposed to magically fly back to Santa every night to report on his behavior) would not wait till his birthday was over to come back, so here we are trying to find different locations for the darn thing everyday…and usually wake up in a panic, as we forgot to move him. How crazy are we? Well, not as crazy as other “elf in the shelf overachievers”. I already linked to a post last year dealing with these overachievers, but if you want to see more of the craziness, try this site. We definitely WILL NOT do anything that time consuming.

We baked our chocolate chip muffins, actually I baked them, which is remarkable. The fact they came from a box, Hershey chocolate chips included, is not important: I still count this as baking.

robot and rockets liners and toppers
 

The next morning, I woke up Keegan: this is a nice change, as we sometimes have to wake him up, always, and rigorously on week days, never on weekends. On Saturday and Sunday he is always up shortly after 6…too much fun stuff to do to miss it sleeping.

He was very excited to see his presents form us, and rightly so. Because we had nonni’s, Lori’s and my sister’s ones, it was quite a sight. In fact, I even forgot to bring one out, the biggest one of all: his dinosaurs.

He ripped through the paper, and was excited about his books – we read 4 before school – his Lego, his playmobil, and his building robots. Before leaving for work, I sent out Keegan to grab the paper, and he discovered the Cars birthday banner hanging on the garage door.

He was excited about going to school, and bringing treats to his friends. He had a fun day: his friends celebrated him again, his teacher offered him a crown, and he had his yoga class, but when I picked him up,  he was ready to go home. Many more presents awaited him.

At home, he listened to the birthday message Loredana and Francesca left him, and he was very excited hearing their voices. And yes, we still have a land line, and, even worse, we still have a corded phone…but guess what? During the last blackout, our corded phone was the only one working!

The lure of the gifts, though, was too much, and he dove right in. He started with the dinosaurs: he was so excited, since he really wanted them. Now his humongous T-rex had  friends dinosaurs to play with.Then he opened our babysitter Jennifer’s present: she packed a great collections of Cars related stories, in a huge bag, filled with large marshmallows.

Check the size and quantity of the marshmallow…

We then opened them all, one by one. I am always amazed by how many toys exists in stores: I never saw most of them, and I’ve spent PLENTY time in the toy store section at Target. Keegan was happy. He got books, superheroes, cars, a garage and all sort of other stuff. Most of the presents contained more than one toy. He got so much he actually told me: ” I got too many toys. Maybe next year we can tell my friend to only bring one present each!” I am not joking…

While we opened them all, we put some away, and he has been playing only with his favorite ones for now. The house looked like a tornado hit it, even if I tried to gather the wrapping and boxes by the time Matt arrived. Keegan showed him immediately all the cool stuff he got.

After dinner, we cut one leftover slice from the cake, and lit candles and wish him, again, happy birthday. Keegan, proudly wearing his school crown, blew the candles out again.

When the evening was over, I am not sure who was more tired, Keegan or us. Keegan was ecstatic, and he repeatedly thanked us, spontaneously, for making is birthday so special and beautiful. He promised to make my birthday special too, maybe buying me some jewelry. What a sweet little boy!

After all the preparation and anticipation, we almost felt “deflated”, but there still one more birthday-related task to do: the thank you cards. While Keegan was enthusiastic about thanking his friends, he started losing interest after card number 3…but we stuck to it, and we finished them all by the Thursday night. Some of them even had drawings in it. Julia’s card had a princess. Can’t you tell?

So, here we are. Keegan is a healthy, happy, STRONG WILLED, little boy. He is 42″ high  (106 cm…he pass the 1 miter mark!) and weights an healthy 40lb (18kg). We are definitely not worried about his size anymore, since he is now in the 50% for weight and 30% for height. His 4 years have been somewhat challenging, in a “clash of the titans” kind of way, but watching him grow, learn and develop, both physically and emotionally is really an amazing experience. We are looking forward to see what next year will bring us and what he will become. And we are especially looking forward to seeing more of his smiles that can light up a room.

We love you Keegan, our little fiery one.

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