Judson's Fifth Birthday...

...three months late.  Boo.  But I do want to get it documented on here, so better late than never.

Judson's birthday was on a Friday this year, which meant he got to celebrate with his friends at school on the actual day.  He got to bring treats.  He chose ice cream sandwiches (and we brought popsicles, too), which made it VERY easy on me.

We went out for pizza for dinner.  My parents and Anna and the kids were supposed to meet us there, but got held up in traffic.  They did make it to the party, though.  We decided to do it at a fun place called Super Bounce.  With Darla living with us and our house being small (and Bridgett and Phil having five kids living with them), I just couldn't bear the thought of trying to do something here.  Super Bounce was perfect!  The kids had a blast and completely wore themselves out and I only had to worry about the cake.  Judson chose an ice cream cake, since we couldn't bring ice cream in separately.  I basically just spread the ice cream between two layers of chocolate cake.  I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but it was great!  Nate decorated it for me, which was also great.  We were worried about it staying frozen until the end of the party so we bought dry ice.  I had Nate pick it up and he bought probably ten times the recommended amount.  No joke.  It was so frozen so hard in places that I couldn't even cut through it.  :)

We had a very full, fun day celebrating our big guy.  He loved every minute of it!

The decorations at Friday School

Judson and Mrs. Stillinger

His favorite friend, Ryder, was missing that day.  Cooper is closest (in pink).

Sharing the "All About Me" poster that he made

Not a great picture, but the only one I took.  Porter just happily sat on the floor.

Monster truck cake

Friends and family who helped us celebrate

Grandma Darla (in red)

Jonah, Max, Logan, Campbell, Emmitt, and Greyson

Done jumping and waiting to go into the party room.

Look how red and sweaty the birthday boy got!  (Rowland in orange.  The four kids behind Judson are Phil and Bridgett's.)

Gift-opening was CRAZY.

I never even took a picture of Judson by himself.  They'd made a cute sign for him, but it was erased when I took him out for a picture with it.  Darn.  Here he is with his friend from church, Jonah.

Cooper's First Hair Cut

Porter had his first haircut before Cooper had hers.  Yes, that's right.  Her hair hadn't ever been cut.  For the longest time, I was waiting for it to be long enough to get it ALL pulled back in a ponytail (she only lets me do that at mealtimes, however).  After our summer of sun and pools, it was definitely time.  Anna and I had talked about taking the girls together to the place Macy goes (Sharkies).  It hadn't worked out until Christmas, so that's what we did. 

It wasn't quite the experience Anna and I were expecting, as the ladies there were not any Anna had seen before and were fairly unfriendly.  The girls didn't seem to notice, though Macy did attempt to make small talk with her stylist.  ("I like your boots!") So sweet.  :)

Included in the cost was a "manicure."  Cooper was in heaven!

Though the before and after pictures hardly show a difference, it is definitely obvious in real life...

Before:

 During:

Poor, strained little neck!  I kept trying to help her...

Macy graciously let Cooper have the pink Barbie Jeep.  And then Mace proceeded to rev the motor and honk her car incessantly until Anna made her stop.  :)

Fingernail polish drying...

 After:

Ahh!  So healthy and pretty!

Macy wasn't around when I was taking "before" shots, but was all about getting these taken.  She's a much better poser than her cousin...

All in all, it was a fun morning (complete with Starbucks, of course!) with some of our favorite people.

Porter's First Hair Cut

I didn't want to get Porter's hair cut, because I knew it would make him look older.  However, once I saw a couple of shaggy pictures of him, I decided I'd rather him look older than just ridiculous.

I took him to "Little Angels Salon" at the recommendation of a friend.  Unlike Judson's first hair cut, which included hysteria from start to finish, we had the BEST experience this time!  Despite it being 5:30 pm (he's usually pretty tired by then), Porter just happily sat and made happy peeps every so often.  He is so incredibly sweet!

Before:

 During:

 After:

And, of course, he instantly looked older.  Still adorable, though, and I'm really glad I didn't wait any longer than I did!