Oh somebody had a birthday!

Matthew had a birthday!  Our boy is growing up so fast!  5 yrs old, I almost can't believe it.  He woke me up in the morning saying "It's my birthday!  I have never even been 5 before!"  He got to open a few presents in the morning.

And then we spent time getting ready for his little party with my parents in the evening.  He colored his own angry bird decorations.

And then he helped me make his angry bird birthday cake while Hailey napped!  The cake took way too long because I messed up a few times.  The first layer I tried to get out of the pan too fast and it crumbled all over.  The second layer fell in the middle (but I used it anyway for the bottom layer....don't tell haha) But the third (which ended up being a different flavor) turned out perfect.  So I stacked chocolate on white and it worked.  Matthew really wanted an angry bird cake so I just kind of made it up as I went.  I realized I had green, yellow and red sprinkles and thought that would be easier than mixing all the different colors of frosting.  I poured the sprnkles separately in a ziplock baggie and snipped off a teeny tiny corner for optimum pouring control.  Oh first I made the outline in black frosting.  That wasn't too bad.  Matthew picked which bird he wanted on the computer and I printed it out.  I practiced drawing it once on paper.  Then I drew it in the blue with a toothpick and followed the lines, added the whites very carefully with another toothpick, and poured the sprinkles.  Then I just free handed the words.  Not rocket science but I was kind of proud of the cake when I was done because I am by no means a baker or artist :)  Matthew loved it and that's all that mattered.  Too bad he started not feeling very good by the time we were eating it and he only had a couple of bites (something he ate?  a quick case of the flu?  we aren't sure but the rest of us feel fine. He told me he thinks he just had too much birthday!) 

I forgot to bring the camera, but around 4:30 we went to Fat Cats and played a round of mini glow golf.  Matthew loves it and is actually getting pretty good and only cheats a LITTLE haha.  Then we went to Pizza Pie Cafe for pizza/pasta/salad buffet.  It used to be called Craigo's.  We've been going there for Matthew's birthday I think the last three years in a row!  It's what he always picks and I don't blame him, I love it.  Mostly I just love the salad bar and we only recently discovered how good the pasta is.  Hailey loves that part best I think.

After pizza Grandma Janet and Grandpa Kit came over to give him a present and play for a while and eat cake.

He loved his present from them!  Angry Birds Knock on Wood game you can actually PLAY play, not just computer. 

Oh and the shirt he is wearing came from his great Grandma Patsy and Grandpa Mel.  He has this new obsession where if it's a "favorite" thing then he puts it in a box and hides it from Hailey in his closet on his dresser.  This shirt has now attained this status.  His angry bird shirt also lives there along with his new hex bug nano and his batman stuff and his kung zhu pet.

Matthew has grown so much this last year in every way.  Not only has he shot up like a beanstalk but he is just so stinking smart.  

He makes us laugh all the time.  He is a joy to be around.  I don't know of one kid yet that doesn't like him once they play with him.  When we go to the park he says "I'm going to go make a friend!"  

He is the best big brother!  One day Hailey was having a very hard time (it was around naptime) and he was doing everything possible to make her happy.  He even brought her pink princess chair out by the sandbox when she was begging me for it and I told her no.  

His favorite thing to do is help.  If he has a job then he is happy.  He asks all the time to dust, wash the car, rinse the dishes, "orgeenize laundry", vacuum....and he will write my to do lists for me.  I need to take a picture of one of those.  He will get out a piece of paper and a pencil and say "ok ok ok, what was that that we need to do tomorrow?" and I will start listing it and he will scribble away or try to write the words he is familiar with.  Also he likes to write my shopping lists and is a pro at padding the cart when I take him shopping!

His vocabulary is huge, and he talks so big now.  But I cherish the words he says that remind me that he is still my little Matthew.  Some favorites are Harmesan (Parmesan cheese, which he wants on just about everything), Pwigs (twigs), and hanitizer (hand sanitizer.  I have just added that one to my vocabulary because it is so much easier to say.  I think it will forever be a family word).

It is amazing how easily technology come to this generation.  He loves playing games on the computer (especially angry birds!) and loves playing the Wii at Grandma's house.  He knows exactly how to put a DVD in and choose the right options on the menu, which causes a struggle occasionally when I think he's had enough tv and he doesn't!

Matthew is very musical.  He loves singing and dancing (his dancing is the best. Robot meets break dancing) along with all the songs on his disney movies.  We have Spirit soundtrack that he wants to listen to almost every day. 

We have to make a weekly trip to the library to fill he constant craving for more books.  I love the afternoons where he sits himself on the couch and we read books for a very long time.  Once we've read through them all once together though he usually doesn't want me to read them to him, he just wants to look at them himself unless it's an I Spy.  He still loves to do those with Daddy.

I can't imagine how dull my life would be without my Matthew, er I mean "the Family's Matthew!"  Anytime we fight over who's matthew he is with grandma and grandpa he assures us that he belongs to the whole family!  The cliche "kids grow up so fast" couldn't be any truer.  We love you Matthew Curtis Coates!