Noah: 6 Years Old!

Noah turned 6 at the beginning of January, but we had his birthday party this weekend so that his school friends could come.  It might just be me in my emotional mommy state, but I can already see a big difference in his attitude from being a 5 year old to being a 6 year old.  (Not to say the tantrums are gone, because they're not... but he's being more helpful around the house which is nice).

He's VERY much into all things police these days, so that seemed like the perfect party theme!  I searched something like "police birthday party ideas for kids" on Amazon and a whole slew of things came up!  He helped me pick out most of his party supplies and all of his favors.  Here's a glimpse of the invitation.  It was SO CUTE.

On his actual birthday, I let him open one of his gifts right away and then we saved the other ones for that night when grandparents came over for cake.

That night, we had a simple yellow cake with cream cheese icing.  He added the black sprinkles at the end.  He wanted to add all of the Halloween sprinkles but I advised against. He had also picked out bright pink strawberry icing and after tasting a tiny bit, I convinced him to use that only in the middle and to use the cream cheese frosting on the outside of the cake.  I used a badge cookie cutter for my template on the decoration.  Fortunately, Noah thought it was great and that's all that really matters. :) 

When assembling his party favors one night this week, I was so impressed with how cute they turned out!  Noah picked out little sheriff badges, handcuffs, and little notepads (for writing tickets of course).  I grabbed some cellophane bags off of Amazon and bundled the items together to make 12 little favor bags.

On Friday night, I made sugar cookies and on Saturday morning I added some yellow food coloring to cream cheese frosting for the tops.

The tablecloths, forks, spoons, two different plate designs, and napkins (and all the favors) were all Amazon purchases.  Noah picked out a variety bulk bag of chips, and we also added a fruit/cheese tray to the table and Capri Suns closer to the start of the party.

Just like for Michael's party, Noah requested the bouncy house, so we blew that up and had it indoors.  This is actually such a great idea no matter what time of year a party occurs.  In August, it was great for Michael's party because we were in the inside with AC.  For Noah's party, it was cold and slightly rainy, so having the bouncy house indoors was a great idea.

Noah had a few kids from his class show up, then we had our friends from church and all of the grandparents again.  It was a good time to connect and meet some new people and allow all of the kiddos a safe place to play and run off LOTS AND LOTS of energy!

I'll share Noah's birthday interview, and subsequently Michael's nearly-seven-and-a-half-year interview since he thought it sounded like so much fun that he wanted to do it too. :)

I continue to be amazed at how much joy these kiddos find in life and in the special events like birthday parties.  It reminds me to find such joy in my own circumstances.

Until Next Time,
Much love, Reba