It's always so difficult to believe how old he is. And 5 seems to be such a big one.... the permanent passing from "baby" to little boy. And as age 6 is approaching, I feel the same way again.... 6 is a "big kid" age! Where does the time go??!
**As I have posted these, I realize there are a LOT of things that we did not get photos of... not sure why. The person I had in charge of the camera last year wasn't here, and I was very busy!*
The birthday invitations were train tickets- I don't have pictures of that either. WHY don't I have pictures of these things???!! Grrr!
We had a couple of children this year but still keep that sorta to a minimum since it can be too much for him. We invited a lot of adults- very special people who genuinely love Caelan and are a big part of his life. AND... we don't like to really have a lot of "boundaries" on the time. We look at it as.... come around this time and stay 'til dawn if you want. So you will notice that there are some people who were here for the "party" time and still here at dinner time.... we LOVE it!
This year we did a Thomas the Train theme... finally pulling away from Curious George. And thanks to my friend Danielle (and the internet) this all came together pretty well!
The "Filling Station"
Load up on "Diesel Fuel" (tea), hit the Water Tower, or Lemonade
pick up something to eat at the "Loading Docks"
The Gift Table (above)
(above) I can't believe I don't have a close up of this!! It's a painting of Sir Topham Hatt- above him is a train sign pointing the way toward the party.
**EDIT- my husband to the rescue.... a closer picture of Sir Topham Hatt. I am pretty proud of it since I painted that myself a few years ago! STILL no photos of other things like tickets, hats, party favor bags, etc.... booo.
The "Draining Station"... you guessed it, the bathroom!
We gave each one of the kids their train conductor hat when they got there- they are printed on paper and have each child's name on it (looks embroidered on the side)
The train pulling it's cargo cars of utensils and napkins
Happy 5th Birthday Calean!
Troublesome Truck- for a game later
First things first....
I took a similar concept from last year and had the kids hunt for the tickets which were hidden all around the yard. They had to find the one with their name on it. It was really cute (something else I didn't get a photo of?!?)- it was a ticket window made out of card stock and had a train ticket punch card for each child.
Caelan has found his....
and Noah
Chloe has hers....
Joe and Joshua located his!
Then I explained to the kids.... to listen for the train bell and whistle... when they hear it, they need to come find me to find out what the next Stop would be. So they would all go play for a while, I would go ring the bell on the porch and then blow the train whistle and all my little "Engineers" would come running! Each game they completed, they received a hole punch in their train ticket and at the end would receive their goody bag! (No pictures of any of that either... ?)
So.... first stop! Pin the Funnel on Thomas
Next up... "Oh no!! There is ice on the tracks! The trains won't be able to get through! Come over to the tracks and help break up the ice!"
Bubble wrap... who doesn't love to pop bubble wrap!?!
Even Eli gets his turn!
Stop number 3
The Troublesome Trucks fell over and lost all their cargo- toss it back in for them
The next part was great in theory.... Boulders on the Tracks!
Boulders have crashed onto the tracks! Come help clear the way!
So we dumped a bunch of boulders (balloons) on the track for the kids to have to clear. Like I said... Great in theory except..
... it was VERY windy!! And the boulders went aaallll over the yard!
So it became a little bit different of a game... but fun nonetheless!
(above) Not sure what they were looking at- but such a cute picture of Marissa, Caelan and Joshua peeking through the fence at the adults!
Cake Time!
I LOVE this picture of all three of us!
Eli stealing Mr. Joe's cake
Marissa and Caelan still love playing together!
Joe and Linda had to leave a little early so Caelan went ahead and opened his card and gift from them- a Percy flashlight
Pat and Lorraine also had to leave early so he opened the Thomas Search and Rescue play set that they got him.... love these happy faces!
Books... ALWAYS a hit!
another Thomas play set
Danielle got him this really cool John Deere tractor and wagon- he plays with this ALL the TIME! It was definitely a win!
A "Jr Shofar" from Mr. Dim.... our church sounds a real shofar every Sunday morning so Mr. Dim (Dan) attached this one to Caelan's gift. Oh joy.
Another book... look how happy he is about it!
Marissa is such a cutie
Ms. Danielle is trying reeealllly hard to show him the awesomeness of the Cheese Head shirt from Grandpa. She is a fellow fan. Caelan is more interested in the next set of books he has gotten! Sigh... she tried.
How cute is that?? BOTH of them absorbed in the new books he opened!
Mr. John
Danielle got him this pop-up fire truck tent.... another item he plays with all the time. I personally like it because it collapses and stores away easily.... Caelan often has it on the couch or in the middle of the foyer, filled with stuff or hanging out with Brucie.
All day partying has apparently worn Grandpa out!
Mr. Dan Leach with Eli- super sweet!
Mr. Scott (often referred to as Caelan's best friend) helping Caelan with the new garage ramp.
Caelan was excited to see Mr. Caleb and Ms. Chloe arrive!
And quickly proceeded to "lock" Caleb and Scott into the yard area to play in the sandbox.
Dinner time!
opening his gift from Caleb and Chloe- most of these were blurry which is too bad, they were really sweet pics!
Danielle and Eli hanging out after dinner
Caleb, Chloe, Dan Leach, Scott, Grandma and Grandpa were all still around for dinner
Extra gifts.... the bookshelves were made by Grandpa for Caelan's new room. Pictures of the fronts (and whole room) will come later.
Aannnd.... a couple days later (on his actual birthday) he got his gift from us- a really cool WAGON!
There is video toward the bottom of him when he first got it. Right now he has Mr. Stan pulling him around the driveway....
Bear and Blanket along for the ride
moving into the rough terrain!
Caelan pulling Bear up the driveway
Then Mr. Dim arrived and Caelan worked really hard to give him a turn in it
Now for some videos-
| Singing Happy Birthday
Joe and Danielle singing on the porch
Caelan and his wagon- of course he was totally distracted by the Thomas bath toys we put in it. But he did like the wagon- and we have gotten much use out of it!
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