a dino-mite 5th birthday!

Today, my one and only child turns five. (Five?!) As any mom knows, each birthday is so bittersweet! My Jack is such a special and unique spirit – so full of love, enthusiasm and joy. He never meets a single person he doesn’t end up calling “friend”. His eyes sparkle like the stars and his smile can light up an entire room. He is my very best buddy and I can not imagine our lives without him. In fact, it’s really hard to believe the world existed before he was in it! On Saturday, we had his Big Dinosaur Birthday Bash. If you know us, then you know already that this was his third Dinosaur birthday party. That’s right – We rang in 3, 4 and now 5 with our closest pre-historic pals and, per Jack’s request, the exact same Dinosaur cake from Sweet ‘n Sassy! We have been fortunate each year to be able to celebrate Jack’s birthday at home with family and friends, and last year we even enjoyed the weather outside in the backyard. I was so in hopes to be able to do that again this year, adding bikes and a bounce house to the mix. (OK, so if I am being truthful, the photographer in me really wanted to have this party outside simply for lighting purposes. Did I just say that out loud?) I mean, seriously – look at this. When I think that all of his party photos could have looked like this, it melts me…

BUT…It was not to be. According to Jack, in order to be “cool” you have to have a party in the church gym. Oh, really? Is he supposed to understand cool at age four? Hmmm. Well, who am I to stand in the way of his coolness? So, we booked the gym. And I cringed. And my dreams of bright, sunshiny birthday photos went down the drain. BUT – I have learned a very important lesson here. A lesson that I actually try to apply to most other areas of my life: USE WHAT YOU HAVE. And what did I have on Saturday morning? A dimly lit church gym, some nasty fluorescent bulbs and some pretty bland surroundings. But what else did I have on Saturday morning? Fun, excitement, love, laughter, the most beautiful kids ever, sweet friendship and the happiest (and coolest) soon-to-be-five year old on the planet! And what mommy (or photographer, for that matter) could complain about that? Oh, and I really tried to get an individual shot of everyone, but in the end playing reigned supreme over everything else and I just couldn’t get some of them still enough. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday to my sweet, sweet Jack. I love you, beautiful angel boy!