Jay's 6th Birthday Today

This is the message that greeted Jay this morning when he woke up at 6 a.m. like usual...

He read the message all by himself! (Homeschool kindergarten teacher and student success!)

Before Dad left for work Jay was able to open his birthday gifts.

(It saved this Mom's sanity knowing the boy didn't want to wait much longer - the excitement and anticipation was high!)

A new swimsuit for this summer in size 6T! He has outgrown his old swimsuit.

Jay and David enjoyed opening their combined birthday gift from the Anunsons (Aunt, Uncle, and Cousins) and couldn't wait to put together the treehouse creation. I'm sure it won't be long before they tear down this and build one of the other 2 things this Lego set can do. They LOVE it! Thank you so much!!

Everybody got in on the action of opening the gift from Mom and Dad (along with other family members who contributed towards this by giving Jay money for his birthday). I will readily admit this is a pretty cool set. Jay and David are always imagining/playing with the Legos with the cops getting the "bad guys"/robbers, so now they have a place to lock up those bad guys (although they are tricky - always trying to escape)!

If I wasn't helping the boys out this morning building their new Lego sets, I stayed busy in the kitchen making (amped up) devil's food chocolate chip cupcakes and decorating them for the Newcastle Shetland LA Dodgers t-ball game that started at 6 p.m.

Jay is the player in the middle there looking at the camera in front of Coach and just to the left of the red team. They had just gone through the line and congratulated the other team on a good game.

Coach announced it was Jay's birthday today (Jay had quickly informed his coach of the fact during warm-ups) and all the players and parents sang Happy Birthday to him. He got all shy, but I know Jay - he loved every second of it!

Look at the smile! So happy and excited to share birthday cupcakes with the team. And his teammate was excited to have a cupcake treat, too! (That boy happens to be the coach's son...)

Matt assisted with distribution of the yummy cupcakes along with napkins, water, and bananas.

Jay ended his night with a special phone call visit with Grandma Amy here at home. He isn't one that typically likes to talk on the phone, so I was pleasantly surprised at how well he did on the phone with her this evening as he recounted the events of his birthday. He also told her of the special early birthday gifts he received from PopPop and Nana this weekend...

Jay had a wonderful day and so did the rest of us - all 3 kids are now tucked in bed and fast asleep. I'm tired too - but in a good way. It sure is fun to have a day dedicated to sharing with someone how special they are to us and how glad we are that they are part of our life, no matter how young or old they may be.

LOVE YOU JAY!!!!