Happy 6th Birthday Jonas!

How is he 6 already?! When did that happen?! I keep telling him that he needs to stop growing up, but he usually responds that God created him to grow. How true that is! He is such an incredible little boy (although not so little anymore!). He has a good heart. He always wants to do the right thing. He is able to express his emotions and reason better than any other 6-year-old I know. He is academically on target and never ceases to amaze me with his intellectual growth. He loves his family! He is happiest when we are all together and he can't wait until Dallin gets home...TOMORROW! In any case, we spent the entire month celebrating Jonas. The birthday festivities started while all the Shumway family was in town. (It's just way more fun to do these parties with his cousins.) This year he chose to have an Avatar: The Last Airbender themed birthday. 

The birthday gang: Sadie, Quincy, Azzi, Addie, Kate, Nolan, Jonas, Camden, Jet and Lincoln

We started the party with four different games to master the four elements: water, fire, earth, and air. For the water game, they had to squirt out the chalk fires on the driveway. For fire, the adults became the enemy as the kids launched red dodge balls at us. For earth, they had to move a "boulder" (beach ball) through an obstacle course. And, finally, for air, they had to blow ping pong balls into plastic cups across the table. I tried to convince Jonas that we didn't need to do piñatas this year, but he didn't go for it. We couldn't find any Avatar themed piñatas so we went with a burro and a birthday cake.

After the games, Jonas got to open his gifts. He got a new Nerf gun from Gma and Papa and one from Renee's family. Nichole and Kate got him some Power Ranger gifts. The Tanners got him some ninja stars and a book. He loved it all!

Finally, we had lunch and his birthday donut "cake". This kid still loves donuts! Plus, he knew we'd be having another family birthday dinner/dessert so he opted to do his cake then. For lunch, we just did sandwiches with Nacho cheese Doritos (fire), veggies (earth), popcorn (air), and juice (water). I have to admit this was the least creative/prepared birthday party I've done yet...and the best part was, he didn't seem to notice or care! He simply had fun. I still kept with a theme...and he got donuts. What more could he want?

On Sunday, July 25th, we celebrated again. This time, we invited his older siblings (Laurin, Casey and Carter came down for the weekend but had to leave before the actual dinner because Laurin had to work), and other family members. Originally, he decided that he just wanted mashed potatoes and mac & cheese for dinner. It took some convincing to add in a protein and vegetable to the mix, but finally, we ended up with chicken cordon bleu, mashed potatoes, mac & cheese, and a veggie tray. Jonas, however, only ate the mac & cheese and a few cucumbers. It was his birthday dinner and one of the few times I don't insist he eat everything. For dessert, he chose a Texas sheet cake and Oreo ice cream (a recent favorite). He  sharing a meal with everyone and opening his gifts. His favorite gift, by far, was the sword Jeff bought him when we went to the Scottish Festival. Jonas has been begging Jeff to build a forge so they can make their own sword. It's just been a crazy, busy summer and it hasn't happened...yet. So Jeff decided to get him another sword in the meantime. The funny thing is that he doesn't want to give Jonas a pocket knife yet, but somehow a large sword is ok.

Tuesday, July 27th, was the big day! 6 years old! We have been pretty busy the last few weeks getting ready for Dallin's return (tomorrow!), but I made sure to clear my schedule to dedicate the entire day to celebrating Jonas. I gave him so many choices of what we could do. Ultimately, he chose to go to Hang Time, but before that he wanted a birthday breakfast of a pancake, a French toast, and a waffle...and lots of buttermilk syrup!

We got tp Hang Time when it opened, played for a couple of hours then we met up with Jeff for lunch at Cafe Rio. After lunch, we did a little shopping trip with a donut treat afterwards. I even played whatever Jonas decided he wanted to play (which is sometimes hard for me because I don't do well with hours of imaginative play) when we got home. Still, it was worth it to see his smile. He has brightened our family in so many ways. He's everyone's little sidekick. He is honest and kind. He loves to laugh and be with family. We can't imagine our life without him. Happy birthday Jonas!