A Bumble Bee-Day

Eli has SOOOO been looking forward to his birthday. He has the order of all our family's birthdays memorized and it pains him to accept that his birthday is last in the yearly lineup. Before we knew it, May turned to June, summer arrived and we woke up to congratulate a little boy on finally turning five!

I was hoping five would be the magical age when he would suddenly like getting his picture taken, but this was the face that greeted me when I requested a smile.

He was eager to show off the new addition of his thumb as we questioned his age.

Then we opened presents. The entire month leading up to Eli's birthday, he was set on getting a water gun for his birthday. Don't know where he got the idea, but it was his one consistent birthday wish, so his wish was granted.

He was a little confused why we kept handing him gifts after he had already opened the one and only thing he asked for. Eli's been into Legos lately so I surprised him with a little Lego Batman and Lego Spiderman set. He was hesitant to accept these into his toy fold at first but eventually warmed up to them.

He also got a little coloring book thing for church. We love these things! Keeps the boys (and me) mesmerized for HOURS!!

And then there was the cake. The CAKE. THE cake. Much to no one's surprise, Eli requested a Transformer cake. In fact, he specifically requested the cake have the ability to transform. Unfortunately for Eli, he was not born into the family of Cake Boss, so the best I could do was a stationary version of his favorite Transformer -- Bumblebee. 

I really questioned my abilities as I was starting this one. My initial plan was to have a square with two black stripes down the sides and call it good. As I got started, I decided to carve the cake a little bit to give it the right shape, and when I began frosting it, Bumblebee came to life. Not literally, of course. Again, you guys, I'm not Cake Boss. Don't know how many times I have to tell you, but I can see how this cake is making you question why I don't own my own TLC cake decorating show. 

And for those of you who are worried that the glory from owning my own cake decorating show would go to my head and I'd forget about all my true friends in my brush with fame, allow me to put your mind at ease a little bit with a less flattering view of my precious. 

Eli isn't often a very expressive boy, so when he first glimpsed his cake, he reacted with an immediate arm fold, paired with a closed lip smile which is Eli for, "That cake is the coolest cake of all time." That's what I'll tell myself after the hours I spent crafting this piece of cake anyway. He did finally utter the words, "That cake's awesome, Mom." completely unprovoked, so I will accept that as a success.

I wasn't up for getting a whole water scene set up outside, so with Eli dying to test out his new water guns, I filled up the bath, closed the shower curtain and let the boys go crazy with their new toys. Things stayed pretty mild in the bath until they started squirting the ceiling and then the guns were immediately banished to exclusive outdoor use from that point forward.

The other sure sign Eli liked his cake -- for two straight hours in the afternoon, he stood right next to his cake and "played" with it. He was so careful not to touch it so he wouldn't ruin the frosting, but he couldn't resist adding it into his afternoon of playing.

We had a quiet afternoon and then we met up with Jeff at a bounce house in the evening.

Lincoln had fun chomping on his carrier for the first half of the outing.

And then cuddling with Jeff for the second half. Meanwhile Eli and Carson were running around like crazy people while we basically had the whole bounce house to ourselves. It was fun!

We went back home for Eli's favorite meal -- potstickers. Then it was time to sing to the birthday boy! When you're five years old, you're old enough to place your own candles...

and play with fire! I have a feeling this is just the beginning of things to come with a house full of future pyromaniacs.

Here I am with 2/4 of my finest creations. Let's face it, with the blood sweat and tears I put into molding Bumblebee, he was as loved as one of my own children.

Well we couldn't expect Carson to just sit back and watch, could we? Sorry, Eli. This will forever be your life as the oldest sibling.

Eli is just like me in that we are both super decisive about certain things and then stubborn once we get set on something. Just like his water gun, his Bumblebee cake and his decision to go to the bounce house, Eli had determined he wanted raspberry filling in his Bumblebee cake. What???? Perhaps with his unrealistic request for a transforming cake and his education on various cake filling options he's secretly been watching TLC at friends' houses, because I can't figure out where else he would have dreamed up his unwavering raspberry filling request.

We met up with David and Mary a couple days after Eli's birthday. 

They gave Eli a Dodger hat, a notebook, some markers, a baseball and some Big League Chew. Lucky boy!

We're soaking up our last few visits with Jeff's parents before they leave for their mission! Lincoln's going to be a whole new boy when they get back!

It's a lot of work to get three children to smile and look in the camera's general direction for a picture. Our favorite trick is to have Jeff bust out his dad joke "A" game behind me while I spastically snap hundreds of pictures in an effort to get one good shot. Usually Jeff is pretending there's a spider on my head. Apparently Lincoln found Jeff's antics to be more disturbing than funny. Either that or he sees dead people.

We love our big almost Kindergartener! He is such a sweet older brother. He adores Lincoln and is so eager to help take care of him. Eli has such a clear conscience. He is a thinker! He has to know how everything works all the time. If he can't figure something out, he's got to ask questions until he understands it. He is very convicted of what's right and what's wrong (especially if it's Carson doing something wrong). This year I have seen him grow and learn so much in Primary! It's been neat to see the Light of Christ in him. He is eager to learn more about Jesus and he seems to already have a clear understanding of many of the basic gospel principles.

Eli is a great example to me! He is often much more patient with me than I am with him. He is always inclined to be kind to everyone he meets. He is the most determined person I've ever met which I know will take him far in life! We are so glad this little boy joined our family five years ago!