Someone is FIVE!

I can hardly believe that it has been five years since these events happened in our family.
First there was a belly. A five year old. A three year old. And paint... (and a two year old who looked on in total disgust...)
Two days later there was a little boy. A new little blessing. Healthy as can be.

Then the family was complete (or so we thought *LOL*...)

Five years later, the blessings and troubles are both present. Elia is a funny, passionate, creative, competitive and sensitive little boy. But oh, man, has he gotten hurt more than anyone else in this family.... fractured foot, fractured skull, bruised and beat up everything else. He almost knocked out his teeth a couple of weeks ago (it's truly a miracle they are still in place), but by the increasing discoloring of at least one of them, we know that there is damage nontheless *sigh*.
The spark he adds to our family is one-of-a-kind, and we love him so much!
Happy Birthday, Elia!
He has been waiting for his birthday for a long, long time, and he had the happiest grin on his face when I kissed him Good morning. One of the first things he said was "Can I call Grandma and tell her that it's my birthday?".
Sure he could!
I fixed him a special breakfast place setting, and he was just sooo happy.

Later on, his friend Kyler came over to play (Mom and sisters too), and they played hard and had a little "birthday brunch"

In the evening, we had dinner for the extended family and a couple of friends. Elia picked the menu: Bread and eggs.
I added some soup, meats and salad to it, and it was wonderful ;-))
And then it was FINALLY time to open presents. Quite a while ago, Elia came across this wooden marble run building system that he really wanted. And that's what he got from his Grandparents and us. We had a happy, happy boy!

The living room turned into a construction site within minutes. Not sure who had the most fun, though :-))

The cake put a nice finish on a very special day. Elia wanted a "Candy Cane Cake", and since his Scooby Doo cake last year was totally lame, we went all out this time around ;-) We turned his Candy cane cake into a Winter wonderland that turned out really cute.

And then the traditional family-birthday picture :-) Elia's look is priceless *LOL*