Carter's 5th Birthday

I wrote about Carter's birthday morning here. Since I did a separate post about his birthday the past few years I wanted to go ahead and do that again. Although Carter woke up during the night throwing up, he only threw up twice after he got out of bed. He really was feeling pretty pitiful though and laid on the floor watching tv most of the morning. We took breaks to read books and one time he fell asleep on my lap while we were reading. I was bummed he was sick but I did catch up on a lot of housework while he was laying on the floor resting. Our neighbors left a present for Carter by the door. There was a coloring book in it and he spent some time in the afternoon coloring once he felt a little better. I laid with Carter and read while he fell asleep for his nap. He doesn't nap very often anymore but I knew since he was sick he most likely would and he fell asleep really quickly. He had been feeling quite a bit better and was able to eat some macaroni and cheese for lunch so I decided to go ahead and make his birthday cake while he was napping. Normally we make it together and he helps decorate it, but I didn't want him getting any germs into the cake and spreading the sickness on to anyone else! He had picked a lemon cake with lemon frosting. I grabbed some gummy Paw Patrol candies to decorate the cake with. I also surprised him by blowing up balloons and putting them in the living room for him to play with.

Carter woke up from his nap while the cake was in the oven and got really excited when he realized it was lemon, just like he'd asked for. We had planned to take Carter out for dinner but nixed that idea since he was sick. We just ate some leftovers and Ty made grilled cheese. Using the confetti we made to put in the sensory bin, we counted down from 5 and dumped the confetti over the birthday boy's head. Carter had so much fun picking it up and dropping it back down over his head. Elise had fun with it too. Since Carter had missed out on his party at school and was sick, we decided to surprise him with a piñata. After dinner Carter opened his presents. Then he put on his special birthday shirt while Ty snuck out to the garage to surprise him with the piñata. Carter really went to town on the piñata but it took forever to break open! Elise really wasn't interested in the piñata at all until she realized it was filled with candy and at that point rushed over to get in on the action.

I held the cake really far away from Carter so he wouldn't accidentally spit germs on it when he blew out his candle. He decided he wanted to blow it out again so I relit it and he blew his candle out again. Then he asked if he could blow it out 5 times since he was 5 years old, so I kept relighting it and letting him blow it out. He and Elise each picked a piece of cake with a Paw Patrol gummy on it. Carter picked Chase and Elise picked Skye. The next morning Elise pulled the cake to the edge of the counter while Ty was in the shower and I was out running and pulled all the gummies off, sharing them with Carter. Bath time was fun because Carter got a Paw Patrol play shaving set for the tub and had a blast putting on shaving foam and pretending to shave it off. Ty even came in and shaved with him. Even though Carter wasn't feeling very good, he enjoyed his birthday. I was definitely more disappointed that he missed his music program at school than he was. Later he admitted to me he was a little glad he missed it because he was nervous about it. And the money we saved on not sending special doughnuts to school for his birthday we used to buy him a piñata, so it worked out. Some day he'll get to take special doughnuts to school. I was really excited about it because they spelled out Happy Birthday with the doughnuts and then made 5's to finish out the rest of the two dozen. Maybe next year he won't be sick on his birthday! I talked to my grandma the next day and she said she was always sick on her birthday, so maybe it will be his thing too! Carter got calls from his Uncie Taco, Oma and Opa, Gma and Gpa, and Hayden. He also got special birthday videos sent to him from Uncle Paul and his friend, Kyra. His Uncie J brought by Sprite for the sick boy so he got lots of birthday love!

I saved back a card Carter got in the mail from his Great Grandma and Grandpa Shupe so he could open it on his birthday. He was really excited that they included cash and decided he'd like to use the money to go to the movies. The next day he had to stay home from school since it had been less than 24 hours since he threw up but he was back to normal so we decided to go see Ferdinand. I found a theater with $4 tickets that I had a gift card to (it was from a student 5 years ago!). Carter was so excited that he had enough money leftover to buy himself a kid pack at the concessions. It included a drink, he picked lemonade, popcorn, and fruit snacks. He loved the movie and has been playing bulls quite a bit since then. He now really wants to go see the movie Star which I think also looks quite good. Although being sick on your birthday is a bit of a bummer, Carter handled it like a champ and I loved getting to spend the day with him. Maybe it was his way of saving me from being away from him on his birthday for another year. I was disappointed his birthday fell on a Thursday so he'd be at school. It was going to be the first birthday where I didn't spend all day with him. Now that won't happen until he's turning 6! Read about Carter's 4th birthday here, his 3rd birthday here, his 2nd birthday here, his 1st birthday here, and the day he was born here.

Ready to watch Ferdinand!