Happy 5th Birthday James!

Our big guy's day started at 7am when he busted into our room and we immediately snagged him for some snuggles and happy birthday hugs and kisses. Next up was the yearly picture of James and Freedo.

I'll have to do a throwback Thursday blog post of all of the Freedo pics with James! 

Next up we headed to our favorite restaurant Magpie's Diner to have breakfast with James's best little buddy Cooper and his mom Katryna and sister Ella. Funny enough Katryna and I have been friends since we were pregnant with the boys and have stayed in touch over the years but hadn't spent a ton of time together except for yearly birthday parties and the odd lunch date while on break from our busy jobs and lives. This year the boys ended up in the same preschool class and have become best friends. It's like they know they've known each other their whole lives and used to lay side by side on a blanket on the floor while their moms sipped tea and ate cookies all those years ago while we are maternity leave together! Cooper's birthday is just 9 days after James's and this year we are a having a joint swimming birthday party today and the boys can't wait. I'm sure there will be tons of photos of that up next week cause it's gonna be a hell of a good time! :)

Here are the boys on the way out to breakfast. James said "Daddy, look at us, aren't we so cute?"

hehehehe...our first try at our yearly picture with James...can you tell why this picture didn't turn out to be the ONE?

James and Cooper!

This one is much better! 

Ella is such a cute little girl! 

After breakfast we headed to the pool for some family swimming fun and had an absolute blast enjoying time with our boys on a rare weekday off together.

After swimming we dropped Jordan off with Papa for his nap and we headed off to do James's other favorite activity...bowling!  James loved having time alone with Mommy and Daddy and we had so much fun enjoying him by himself. We had some yummy lunch and a little visit with Auntie Michele who came up from the Peak to say hello and wish him a happy birthday.

Here are the boys having some quiet snuggle iPad time while Mommy and Daddy had some coffee and tea with Papa.

Can you tell he was excited to be bowling?

Showing James how to keep score

We decided to share a beef dip from the pub and it was really good!

For a kid that's not a big meat eater he ended up really liking it.

Next up we headed to Putter's to get him some ice cream we had promised. Our original plan was to go mini golfing like we did last year but that just didn't happen because the weather was windy and cold. But he was happy to get his ice cream. And he was so cute in Putter's, he even gave Pam a big kiss when she asked for one because she saw him give me a big one. He is really such a cute little guy!

Talking to Pam about how it was his birthday today. She just looked at me and said "wow, I remember when you were pregnant with him." Time really has just flown and I can't believe he's 5 already! 

Our final stop of the afternoon was to go to Wal-Mart where he was able to pick out a toy to buy with the money he had gotten from Nana and Papa for his birthday. He has never had money before so was super excited to look through everything and then pick something just for him. He also got his brother a matching little squirting toy for the pool this summer. Such a nice big brother.

He paid his cash and then Daddy paid the difference.

Pretty excited for his Jake and the Neverland Pirates submarine toy

Lastly we stopped back at N&P's to pick up Jordie and found him and Papa outside playing hockey. Apparently Jordie only slept an hour and Papa hadn't called to tell us, instead he kept him all afternoon, including having to change a poopy diaper and taking him outside to play for an hour and a half.

Here is Jordie spotting the new toy and recognizing Jake on the side of the box.

Some hockey playing before we left. 

Got tired of hockey so went back on his bike

And now back at the toy and really wanting to get into it

He was very focused on this toy and wanted to do  nothing else but sit there and look at it.

After supper of quesadillas (James's request) we had baths and then put Jordie to bed (you can imagine how tired he was after a very short nap and 1.5 hours playing outside!) and then the 3 of us settled in to the play James's new TMNT board game. 

Overall it was just a fantastic birthday spent celebrating our special little man. He is growing up so fast and we are so proud of him. Next up is the big party today....many more pictures to come later this week I'm sure!