Tobias's 5th birthday

First of all, how crazy is it that 6 of my kids are now five or over???  Only 2 are under five now!  I never thought I'd make it this far :)!  Tobias had a stuffed animal picnic for his 5th birthday.  It was the perfect theme for him!  We spread out some quilts--oh, how I love using my old family quilts for picnics!--and friends and family brought stuffed animals for some food and fun.  Tobias got to pass out the tiny cups and spoons for the animals.  

We then grabbed a big sheet and put the stuffed animals in the middle and tossed them in the air.  The goal was to try to keep your own animal in there as long as possible. 

 The kids then waited in the living room while Jon and Brishen hid all their animals in other parts of the house.  

Then Jon did a puppet show for the kids.  This was the kind of puppet show based on a book the kids got for Christmas and make us read 100 times a day and thrown together in a couple minutes.  Jon's good at hamming things up for an audience.  Who knew? :)

 The kids then got to do puppet shows of their own for a while.

Hot chocolate and all the fixings were a must for this winter birthday!

We went to a local bakery to choose cute cupcakes for each of the kids, but they were closed for the holiday still.  We crossed the street to another bakery, and Tobias chose this cake.  It was mango and delicious!

He really, really lit up when everyone started singing to him.  When you have a lot of siblings, not a lot revolves around one kid.  Birthdays are a great exception!

The next day was his actual birthday.  This wooden marble run was his big gift from us.

I then took him on a date, just the two of us.  We stopped at the bakery for a cupcake (they were now open).  There were all sorts of options, but my sweet son chose a heart.  Aww!

We then went to Build A Bear for his first time ever.  It was a dream land for him.  He made an Iron Man bear that he hasn't stopped playing with since his birthday.  We grabbed a slice of pizza and headed back home.  That night Grandma took us all out for dinner at Si Senor in Las Cruces to finish the day's festivities-and Grandma's visit.