The Big 5

I can't believe that Preston turned 5! Here's a walk down memory lane.

First birthday

Two years old

Three years old

Four years old

The big 5

Preston woke up to a trail of 5s which he followed around the house.

They went upstairs and ended at his presents.


We tend to do more of the educational gifts, but they still fit in with the Super Hero theme.

Here's his official "5" birthday shirt. Notice I didn't put his name on it so that it can be shared with his brothers.

He was very happy about this lap tray. We let him have his birthday breakfast (poptarts) in front of the tv. He said "Can we eat breakfast like this every day?" We agreed only for special occasions.


For Preston's birthday lunch we headed over to Planet Pizza. We had never been before and it was quite an experience. This little pirate ship made so much noise, I worried it was going to break. It really got going, too. But Elic and Preston seemed to enjoy it and rode it many times.



Holden loved all the sights and sounds. He can't wait to ride the rides.


The roller coaster was a big hit. The boys giggled the entire time. It even went backwards!

A pose with the grandmothers.

The bumper cars were my favorite to watch. Preston did a super job driving. I didn't think he would like running into other cars, but he loved it. Elic cracked me up- he just hung on and let Bubba do whatever he wanted.

Here's my favorite movie clip from the day.

It was so wonderful to have all the grandparents join us to celebrate.

Darren was so proud to watch Elic play the basketball game over and over again.


A little about Preston at 5:
- loves to build. Could spend hours with Lincoln Logs. Also enjoys creating with pretzels and is very detailed with his creations. He made our house complete with all the rooms and the garage. Then he added goldfish as all the family members in their respective rooms.

- loves super heroes. He will usually only play with the correct good guy and matching bad guy. He knows who fights who and it drives him crazy if Elic wants two bad guys or two good guys.

- has started labeling his drawings using inventive spelling. One Sunday at church he drew a picture and wrote "sooper mn" (super man). I was so proud especially since he usually tells me he's allergic to writing.

- when we bought our Crocs for this summer he wanted all of his gibits on the same shoe! I tried so hard to get him to even them out between the two feet, but nope, that's what he wanted. (I still can't look at them)

- loves to dress up in costumes especially ones with a mask.

- will play tag with anyone who will chase him. Poor Elic always gets caught and then spends the rest of the time trying to get Preston.

- Preston is trying new foods (at least one bite) which is a big step for him.

- peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are his favorite food

- the only fruit he'll eat are mandarin oranges.

- has been attempting to swing. He can pump his legs but it doesn't seem to make him go very high or for very long, but it's a start.

- in his prayers he'll say very sweet and innocent things like "we hope to go to heaven really really soon" and "please help our badness not be badness"

Preston, your Dad and I feel so blessed that God chose us to be your parents. We love the young man you're becoming and can't wait to see what amazing things you'll do for the Lord in the coming years! We love you!

Calling All Super Heroes

For Preston's 5th birthday party he wanted a super hero themed celebration. He actually has been asking for a super hero party for many years, but I deterred him because I wasn't quite sure what all we should do. After much research and planning, Darren and I came up with a perfect solution- super hero training!

The invitations asked his friends to come dressed as their favorite character to help save the day. I loved seeing everyone arrive. We had several hero favorites represented and some very creative costumes as well.

Here we have Spiderman (Elic), Batman (Preston) and Super Brooke (Brooke).

Super woman was a favorite. I wish they made that costume in my size!

And we can't leave out Super Aaron- his super power is sleeping through a party of 4 and 5 year olds.

Yes, that's Venom (Trenton) the dark Spiderman. Although this guy uses all his powers for good!

Super ballerina made a special appearance.

Once everyone arrived the fun began. As I was welcoming the group, Dr. Doom appeared and said he was going to ruin Preston's party. He then dropped bombs on the ground and ran away. We had to think fast and defuse the bombs. (F.Y.I. if you're wanting kids to pop balloons, you should test one out and make sure it is pop-able). We had the hardest time getting them to pop. You can see in some of the pictures below that we would have two or three people stepping on one balloon and it still wouldn't pop.





Once all the "bombs" were defused, we decided that we weren't going to let Dr. Doom ruin Preston's party. So we began our Super Hero Training. I wish I had put someone in charge of taking pictures, because I had a hard time directing the training and getting pictures at the same time. Here are the stations before any super heroes arrived.

This was Wonder Woman's Lasso Throw. The goal was to lasso the hula hoop over the Spiderman balloon. The rest of the stations are pretty self explanatory.










Darren did bring in a long board for the heroes to balance across. This picture was taken before he had put the board in place.


Superman can leap tall buildings like this one, right?


Here the heroes had to stretch and jump like Elasti-girl from the Incredibles.




Everyone went through all the stations to help improve their super hero strength. I think the Hulk Smash was everyone's favorite. Again, I wish I had someone else taking pictures, because I didn't get all the stations once kids were going through them. I also wish I had stepped back and taken a picture of the whole room once it filled up- it was pretty crazy. Here are a few of the highlights:



Look at that adorable Spidergirl! I tried to match her up with my little Spiderman but had no luck.

Bad guys better watch out for this Batgirl!


Although they were deep in training, these super heroes were nice enough to stop for a paparazzi pose.







Once everyone completed the training they all received their Super Hero capes. Preston and Elic's capes were a little different from the rest. Theirs are actually reversible.

Preston can be Batman or Superman.

And Elic can be Spiderman or Robin.

Our Super Hero friends were awarded a cape with their name on it.

They were called out one by one to receive their prize.


But then Dr. Doom appeared again! This time he said he knew how to hurt Super Heroes and then he threw down kryptonite! We had to act fast and put on our special gloves that would help protect us from the kryptonite. We made an assembly line and passed the rocks down to the Hazardous Material chest.




Luckily, no one was hurt by the kryptonite. For their bravery, the heroes received their special Super Hero masks!


Dr. Doom appeared again! This time we were ready with our web-blasters (a.k.a. Silly String) and were able to capture him and save Preston's party!


We took a break from all the training and bad guy catching to refuel with Doc Oct Dogs, Spider Crackers and Hulk Punch.



A few members of Preston's super family.

I think we've done a cookie cake for Preston's birthday since he was two years old. He doesn't really like cake and cupcakes, but enjoys the giant cookie with icing.



Aaron can't wait to have his very own cape. He wants to be Jack-Jack from the Incredibles.

We had one last activity planned. We played "pass the kryptonite" (glow stick). If the music stopped while you were holding the kryptonite, then you got to keep it plus you won your very own Super Hero kite.



I will say that it seemed like everyone had a great time. I was so busy directing everything that I didn't really get a chance to mingle and get feedback. I do think it would have been wise to have used our "web-blasters" outside. It took over an hour to clean up all the Silly String from the Fellowship Hall. My poor Papaw started the vacuuming and then declared that he believes that room is bigger than his whole house. We let Preston open the family gifts once his friends had left and then we headed home. Everyone, including me and Darren, took naps that afternoon.

Later that evening we did finish opening all the presents.

We have been rationing out the gifts for Preston to play with since everyone was so generous! I can't believe that he is 5!!! Preston, I hope you enjoyed your party. You will always be my little hero!