Taipan is 5!

Taipan's fifth birthday was last Thursday (Nov 13).  I took the  day off for celebrating, and we had a great day.  Rather than a set party, we had more of an open house, and asked some of our friends to stop by for cake and ice cream during the afternoon.  It was nice because while there was overlap between guests, there wasn't pressure to keep to a specific flow of a party, and since visitors were spread throughout the day there wasn't ever a point where we felt too crowded.

We actually started celebrating the evening before Taipan's birthday.  My mom mistakenly sent a package to our old address, so we spent a day or two tracking it down, and we were all happy to finally have it, and Taipan was anxious to open it, so we did.

He had specifically asked for a soccer ball, and Grammy did not disappoint.  He couldn't wait to bounce and kick it.  We rolled it in the house for a bit, and then went outside to do some driveway soccer.  While we were outside another package came, so we opened it when we went inside.  My sister sent two Pokeballs, which are perfect for his relatively new interest in Pokeman.  Taipan was happy to let Taisim help open the packages, and we've all been throwing an increased amount of Pokeman around the house:

This is the first year that Taipan was very specific about what he wanted for his birthday.  He asked for decorations that were red, yellow, pink, orange, white, blue, green and purple.  And he wanted the balloons to not have helium.  My plan was to decorate the house after he went to sleep so we'd wake up to a decorated house.  We were all up together, and I could tell that we would all be going to sleep together (late), so I decided to go ahead and decorate while Taipan and Taisim were awake.  

I don't have great pictures of what we did, but there were streamers and balloons over our kitchen table, on our living room mirror, and in an entrance way near our front door.  We also hung some balloons from the top of our stairs so you could see them in the foyer.

Here's Taipan playing with some super balls and tops we bought at the party store:

And fun with balloons:

The kids and I woke up kinda late on the 13th - Yuta got up a bit earlier to go pick up the cake and some other things from the grocery store, and he was gone when we woke up.  While he was out he found an impromptu gift  - a Pokedex that was on sale at a Circuit City that's going out of business:

Taipan was anxiously waiting for Yuta to get back from the store so he could open our gift for him.  

Is it a surfboard?

It's a guitar with an amp!

Here's Taipan showing us the Pete Townsend guitar move he's going to be able to do with his guitar:

Soon after, Yuta's parents came over for lunch and to wish Taipan a happy birthday.  They were our first birthday guests.  

Here are the kids playing a new game (Tier auf Tier) that Yuta's sister sent over with their parents:


Not long after lunch another package arrived - this one from my dad and stepmom in Florida. Taipan was very gracious and welcomed Taisim's help in opening a lot of his presents:

It's a skateboard and helmet!

After Yuta's parents left we had about an hour or two to ourselves where we played with some new things, and then three familes that we're very close with stopped by through the course of the afternoon and early evening.

At the point where we had the majority of kids at our house we brought out the cake - Taipan had been saying he wanted either a rainbow cake or a watermelon cake (decorated like a watermelon that is), and chose the rainbow cake, noting that when he turns six he wants a watermelon cake:

All in all it was a fantastic celebration for Taipan!  I feel fortunate to have such a great group of friends and family!  Thanks to everyone that helped make it a special day for him.