Tobin's 6!

April 13 was Tobin's actual birthday, but we had his party the day before. This year we shared the day with some friends whose son turned 6 on April 8. Caleb and Tobin were excited that we would be taking them to Pump It Up! Ted has taken the kids there a few times on vacation days, but I had only heard about all the fun. I think I was almost as excited as the kids were! We spent approximately a half-hour in each of two different play areas, and then we went to the party room for a pirate cake and ice cream.Our "party attendant" seemed to think we were a little odd for not having the boys open their gifts during that time, but we were only allotted 2 hours for the whole party. By the time the kids had watched the safety video and learned the rules for play, played like mad in the two play areas, shuffled from room to room, got organized enough to have cake and ice cream, we had a grand total of about 10 minutes left of the whole experience. So we opted to just relax, finish eating cake, and watch the kids enjoy their pirate party favor bags. Tobin got to open his presents as soon as we got home, and our friends Braden and Mikaela from across the street came over to watch and to help break in the new stuff. :-) Tobin got some great little lego sets that he absolutely loves--really, everything he was given was very nice. However...it's now time to weed out some old toys, because I am NOT keeping this much STUFF around!!

The next day, Tobin's actual birthday, unbeknownst to him, his Grandma K was riding with friends from Salt Lake City where they had spent time for a conference that the husband was to attend. They arrived around dinnertime, just at the same time the J family arrived to share dinner with us. When Tobin realized his grandma was here, he yelled out, "Grandma K! Can she stay with us for a little while?!" It was a fun surprise for all the kids. (And Grandma is staying through next Tuesday, so yes, she gets to stay with us for a little while!)

We enjoyed a yummy spaghetti pie dinner, and Debi brought a lemon cake for dessert. We put some candles in it and sang to Tobin again, and then he opened his gifts from family members. The Bronco jersey from Grandma J was a big hit, and I am pleased to report that he was ecstatic about the gift Ted and I got him--the young reader's Adventure Bible. He exclaimed, "A BIBLE!!" and was so excited that it almost made me tear up! He's been reading Genesis on his own the last few days and is proud to announce however many chapters he has read. I'm not sure how far he's gone altogether, but as of Tuesday he had already read 17 chapters!!

So, all in all, I think our boy had a fun and memorable birthday. :-) Be sure to click on the link to see the rest of Tobin's party pictures...there is a GREAT shot of Kenna (first picture of the bunch) that Laura took on her camera and sent to me, plus an adorable picture of Arden.