My Little . . . I mean Big . . . Man

Isaiah turns 5 today! Here's a montage of him through the last year:

I love you, Handsome! Hope this is the best birthday ever :)

The Fabulous Beach Party

We had Isaiah's beach party today. The theme was inspired by the sandcastle cake he saw on the cover of FamilyFun. This is how ours turned out: (Isaiah made the flags himself!)

We played a couple of games and the kids played in the water,

and then we fed them hot dog octopi (or redneck seafood) with shells and cheese and blue jello with swedish fish swimming in it (we had a punch bowl aquarium).



Then the kids broke open the beach ball pinata (sort of), Isaiah opened presents, and we had cake and ice cream. The kids all took home a beach ball, but I think the candy from the pinata was more exciting! Isaiah and his friends had a great time, and it was actually pretty stress-free for me, so everyone is happy!

A Barrel of Monkeys

Saturday our oldest niece, Zoe, was baptized. We were so proud of her! Amazingly, all the cousins were able to come and be there for the event. We even tried to take a picture of 12 children 8 and under--tried is the operative word. This is about the best we got:

And Friday a bunch of the family were able to go to the zoo together, as well as my sister, Anne. It was quite a gaggle of people trailing around after each other, but it was fun!

Adam and Katie watching the amazing elephant artist.

Yes, this elephant is painting a picture!

I'm pretty sure this giraffe was posing for the picture on purpose.

This is just Grandma and the kids--we had 6 more adults in our large party.

Just a few more inches, Isaiah!

This leopard was closer to me than this picture looks--luckily through glass.

Ah, the train, a Hogle Zoo favorite!

Preschool Graduation

Two weeks ago Isaiah graduated from preschool (I know, I know, I'm so behind, but I just haven't felt my best and we've been so busy!). We took a million pictures just trying to see Isaiah as he was in the back, right behind a girl with a big bow. Here's the highlight, though, receiving his certificate:
So, he's all done with preschool! And we're headed to kindergarten next! Woohoo!