Mercer's 5th birthday!

Oh what a fun, crazy, loud, and memorable day!

As soon as Mercer woke up, he walked around for awhile saying "it's my birthday.  I'm 5."  Obviously, he's pretty proud of his new stature.

After breakfast, he opened some gifts and some cards.  Then we all --  Rose Marie (who's down for a visit), Todd, and I -- went into high-gear setting everything up for the party.


When the other 8 little boys arrived, they were greeted with a pile of LEGOs to play with, but most of them ended up in Mercer's new room.  He wanted to show it off to his friends.

Somehow, we were able to get everyone back downstairs to make individual pizzas, eat, and then they ran back up to his room to play.  The lure of cake got them back down to the party, however!!

Rose Marie made a cake in the shape of stacked-up LEGOs.  Quite a feat!  There were so many oohs & aahs over the cake when everyone saw it.  Mercer really loved it too!






















However, there was one of those trick candles on it!

















The best part it seems, is eating the icing off the candle!  Can you tell what color Mercer's piece of cake was?!

After cake, the kids stayed downstairs for the most part to play games for the hope of winning a prize (LEGO mini-figure crayons to take home).  We played a LEGO skee-ball sort of game.  (Here's Mercer "wearing" the rings before the game.)  That was a lot of fun for the boys because they got to throw stuff -- in the house!!  












My favorite game, however, was LEGO bingo.  Some blogger-mom made this game and posted on the web for free download. Here's the link for anyone else who's interested:    http://www.bigdandme.com/2011/05/lego-bingo/ 


There are so many LEGO-inspired birthday ideas on the web, but this was my favorite.... and seemed to be a hit with the kids too.

Todd had the foresight to suggest we laminate the game pieces so we could play it over and over again!  He was mostly behind the camera and in the kitchen making pizzas... but here's a shot to prove he was there!  







There were also a number of other LEGO-themed items we purchased or made that made the birthday special such as his mini-figure shirt, a mini-figure candle, mini-figure crayons (in the favor bags), mini-figure cup cake toppers and a birthday Max LEGO mini-figure for each birthday attendee.  

There was one little girl there (other than Isabella).  She was having her own fun with the snacks and staying out of the way of the crazy-rambunctious boys!

Sweet Isabella was too young to participate, of course.  She started out sleeping through the beginning of the party, but woke to join in the festivities and to be held by some eager moms & dads who wanted to hold the little nugget!  Her favorite part of the party:  the balloons.  Her eyes were drawn to them any time she could catch a glimpse.

Mercer opened gifts as soon as his last friend was out the door.  He was so excited to get a bunch of little LEGO kits to expand his collection... helicopter, airplane, dump truck, loader, star wars ship, and a construction kit.  




We have to comment on one other gift that was brought into our home:  a stuffed animal for the baby.  One of Mercer's thoughtful friends, Alex, insisted while shopping with his mom that they get something for Isabella.  He was very proud of their purchase and in this shot is looking into the crib contemplating how to get it in there! (Don't worry - we wouldn't let him put it in with her~)  

The mom kept telling us that there's a gift receipt.  It was such a sweet gesture on the little boy's part and it is a cute (GIANT) gorilla!  

We were all exhausted - but before he went to bed, we gave him our gifts (yes, some of which were LEGO brand -- but we love the low-tech, creativity-building timeless toy that the LEGO block represents!!)

At the end of the night, he said he was happy.  
And when asked what his favorite part of the day was:  "EVERYTHING. It was all good!"