Mitch is 6!

October 17th was my handsome boy's 6th birthday. 

I know it's Mitch's special day, but this sweet pumpkin pie turned one month old on his birthday.  Her gift to Mitchell (and to all of us, really) is being sweet and adorable- this day and always.

Leah's special gift to me on this birthday morning was the discovery of her handy artwork on the wainscoting in my dining room.  I don't handle things like this well.  This day was already super crazy with getting things ready for Mitch's special day and an unexpected doctor's appointment with just an hour's notice, so to find this mess really added a whole new level of stress to the day.  I spent an hour or so working on it, but then just had to move on and leave it for another day.  (Boy, that was hard to do).

At the end of the school day, the little girls and I (Livy not pictured) got to go into Mitch's classroom and bring birthday treats.  Mitch had on his cute birthday crown and his teacher let the twins sit at his table with him.

Mitch got to pick a buddy to help him pass out napkins.

Part of my crazy morning was making cupcakes.  Mitch wanted them decorated like baseballs.  With time running so short, I did the best I could but the cupcakes turned out not great, decoration wise.  I was super disappointed, but luckily 25 hungry 5 year olds could care less.

They tasted great and that's all they cared about.  Mitch was pretty pleased that he could shove his whole cupcake in his mouth.  Ahh, what a proud mom moment that always is.

His teacher took him just outside the classroom to get his picture taken in front of the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom tree.  My kids love that book!

After dinner that night, we started the party.

Mitch and the one month old Olivia got a picture together before things got crazy.

My sweet birthday boy!

As I put his gifts out for him, we discovered more of Leah's handiwork- her name on one of Mitch's gifts.  

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle DVD's from Grandma and Papa were enough to make this boy shout for joy!  

Watching him unwrap this gift was hilarious!

Mitchell has claimed on many occasions that his favorite food is Tom Ramen (Ramen Noodles).  Ben wrapped up two packages for him as a joke.  Mitch's reaction upon opening them was "What the heck?  What are these for?"

After gifts, we got to partake of this AMAZING cake.  Seriously, it was so, so good.  We are already huge ice cream fans here, but this mint oreo one was to die for.

Happy Sweet 6 my sweet boy!

After cake, all of his sisters had to go to bed and Mitch got to stay up and play with his new remote control helicopter and then watch Thursday Night Football with his dad.

Even more than his birthday, Mitch was looking forward to his birthday party with his friends even more.

The next Saturday, October 19th, was the much anticipated day.  For our family, a friend party every other year is plenty.   

 He had decided at least a year ago that he wanted a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle themed party.  I decided to have the kids go through the process of mutation and become ninja turtles themselves.  I thought I had enough activities to keep them plenty busy...

First, the kids had to crawl across the floor (like turtles)...

and roll around in the green slime that mutates them into ninja's.

After rolling in the green ooze, they got to pick what ninja turtle they wanted to be and get their mask.

Next up was ninja training- kicks and punches and even talking like a turtle ("Cowabunga dude!")

Then they had target practice, where they tried to shoot a little disk into a basket.

The kids loved it, but the disks were extremely hard to aim and went all over the room (which the kids thought was awesome) but they claimed one victim in the process- Leah took a disk right to the eye.  (Pay back for the coloring on my walls??  Perhaps.)

Next they played "Turtle, Turtle, Shredder" (Duck, Duck, Goose). 

Our last game was a little good old fashioned limbo.

I love how most of the kids kept their masks on for every activity, even if they couldn't see.

After all the games, only like 15 minutes had passed, I swear.  I'm not kidding that time can stand still when you're actively entertaining a group of kids.  I thought I had plenty of activities planned to pass the time, but I misjudged. And to make it worse, I had two mothers there who wanted to stay for the party- which was totally understandable.  Mitch wanted to invite a number of kids from his school class and I have never met any of their parents.  Not knowing us, the moms wanted to stay which I totally understood, but there is nothing more awkward (when trying to stretch out time when your games go 18 times faster than you predicted) to have two strangers watching your every move.

We opened up gifts next.  To make it more fun, we did "musical presents."  I played the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Theme music in the background, and the kids passed the gifts around in a circle.  When the music stopped, Mitch got to open up the gift he was holding.

And would you believe that every single gift he got except one was something ninja turtle??  This boy was in heaven!  And every action figure or weapons he got were Raphael ones, his favorite turtle.  When asked why Raph was his favorite, Mitch replied, "Because he's hilawious!" (in his cute, can't say my R's well voice).

Mitch and buddy from school Coltor.

Mitch and Abby

Mitch and Brynn

(I will not tell you how quickly those Starbursts were eaten).

Mitch and his favorite buddy from school, Zaden.

Mitch's favorite girl from school, Harper.  (She's adorable and he talks about her all the time).

Next was cupcake time- Ninja Turtle green!

I let him blow out a candle in his cupcake.

I will tell you that six 5-6 year olds can consume an entire batch of cupcakes in a matter of minutes.

The kids cozied up on the couch to watch an episode of TMNT while they waited for their parents to come.

Parties are a lot of work, but I do them only because I love my kids.  They really love them and for that reason alone they are worth it. 

Grandma Cynde stopped by the next day (she was out of town on Mitch's actual birthday) and dropped by the super cool gift of blue thermals for him.  We can't wait for this winter to use them!

Mitch Man- what can I say about my favorite boy?

His "obsession" in life is animals.  Not so much cats and dogs, but the bigger, scarier and more exotic animals you don't see every day.  Dinosaurs, tigers, lions, crocodiles, alligators, polar bears and eagles are among his favorites.  95% of the books he brings home from the library at school are books about these types of animals.  He has a "Predators vs. Prey" book at home that he loves. When he was 3, he used to beg me for a baby T-Rex of his own.  He still asks me to this day if dinosaurs are real.  I think he really wishes they weren't extinct.

He is a sports lover.  Ben has recently implemented "football time" with him, where he lets Mitch stay up and watch a game with him.  Mitch has recently caught on that there is "favorite" teams that people cheer for.  He like to ask us, "What's your favorite team?"  "Is our favorite team the Seahawks?"  But his most favorite thing to do is PLAY sports.  He rocked it in tball this year, had a great first season of soccer, and loves shooting hoops in the driveway. 

Is a great playmate to the twins.  He and Chloe have fun playing certain things together, but he's actually closer in age to the twins and loves, loves imparting his "boy energy" and rough ways on/with them.  He loves to wrestle with them, throw pillows at them, play tigers/animals (mostly with Leah), or anything rough and tumble.  I think he decided if he isn't going to get a brother, he will MAKE one.

His "hard" stage that he's going through is being a boy full of excuses.  When we get after him for doing things he knows he shouldn't, his favorite excuse is "I didn't do anything!"  He's very quick on his feet to come up with an excuse for just about anything in the world.  "I'm too tired", "She did it first", etc.  Lately he's been having an exremely difficult time getting ready for school in the morning.  His problem is not that he doesn't get up on time- he is up by 6:00 a.m. every day (6:30 at the latest).  He just likes to lounge around.  His excuse for that, lately, is "The TV is on and it distracts me!"  That is 100% true, but he has convinced himself that he physically and literally can NOT tear himself away from the TV.  If it is on, his body can not do anything but watch it.  When I told him to stop turning it on in the morning, his excuse is that someone else turns it on.  His excuses grow excuses.  His biggest thing is blaming others for what he does.  He was being really rambunctious during dinner one night and would not settle down.  When I told him he'd have to leave the table, he said "I can't help it.  Chloe is making funny faces at me."  We are desperately trying to teach him to own up to his own mistakes.

Mitch loves being silly.  He has a very squirrely giggle (that he gets from his father) and loves to just be down right, in right, outright, upright silly.  His favorite thing to do is laugh and make others laugh.  Things go south if he gets too out of control (which can happen quickly) and when he makes up excuses for not being able to calm down.  He loves to tell jokes and make up jokes.  The best is when the jokes start off funny and end completely ridiculous.  Mitch also loves catch phrases.  He'll hear them on TV or at school and he cannot help but repeat them.  He loves to incorporate them into his everyday life whenever he can.  I can hear him all over the house repeating them: "Aye, Aye, Captain!", "Cannon Ball!", "Jolly Good show!", "It's the best day ever!" and on and on.

This kid loves math and numbers.  And is pretty darn good at it.  He looks to be quizzed on math facts and loves even sitting down with a sheet of math facts and completing the assignment.  We recently have bought a number of board and card games that incorporate math and he loves them.  He is constantly counting things everywhere we go and loves to ask "How old will I be when Chloe is 12?  When Olivia is 6?  When Dad is 50?" and on and on.  One of his best numbers tricks is he can remember anyone's age if they tell him.  His list is up to 20 or so people.  If he knows they've recently had a birthday since his last reciting, he'll add one to that number and rarely miss a beat.  I smell a future engineer (nerd) in our family.

Is very well rounded and likes to do a multitude of activities around the house.  He enjoys coloring, cutting, making crafts/decorations with his sisters, loves to help in the kitchen when he can, enjoys the little girls' TV shows, likes Chloe's TV shows, loves board and card games and is a great cleaner.  He loves to mop the floor and vacuum.  Is he a keeper or what? 

He loves doing anything outdoors with his dad.  He loves going fishing, going frogging, hunting (recently got to go with Ben for the first time), camping, playing sports, working in the garage and yard, riding his bike, collecting bugs, etc.  For the past year or so, he's been his dads "truck" buddy and they've gone and test driven trucks at the dealership more times than I can count.  His dad makes sure they have lots of man time together and recently implemented "Man Dates" which Mitch cherishes. 

Has not lost any teeth yet and is desperate to lose one.  He has a very loose tooth, but screams like a girl when his dad tries to pull it out.  Unfortunately, we may be paying the big bucks for the dentist to pull it out ASAP, as an adult tooth is already grown in behind it and making it necessary for it to come out sooner than later.  He loves that his Nana calls that his "shark tooth."

Under his excuse ridden tongue and giggly throat, this boy has a soft heart.  He loves to please people and loves to be kind.  He'd give all the money in his wallet away to friends and siblings daily if I'd let him.  He has a beautiful spirit and a loving heart and we are so glad he is part of our family.