Brenson's 5th Birthday

Brenson's birthday is one week after the twins' birthday, so it also fell on a Friday this year. After spending the weekend prior celebrating Brooke and Brecklyn, Brenson was antsy and ready for his birthday to come!

We followed the same basic routine that we had the week before on the twins' birthday. Chris took the day off from work to spend at home with us, and we had all of Brenson's gifts and decoration set up for him to see as soon as he woke up that morning. 

Can you tell our handsome five year old was just a wee bit excited?!?

Brianna was - once again - disappointed to find out that she still had to go to school, even on her brother's birthday *gasp*. We had everything ready for Bren to open his gifts before we took Brianna to school, but he decided that he would rather wait until that evening when we had cake to open things. He did go ahead and enjoy his "big" gift (a new bike), though :-).  

While Chris dropped Brianna off at school, I took the opportunity to take some pics of my little man. The camera has always loved this boy's face!

He tends to be a bit stiff in pictures, but I still think he's cute!

I wrote on here a few months ago about how we had some big problems with our flooring after we moved into our house. It was a huge mess when over half of it had to be ripped out and fixed. Well, we discovered a few weeks before Bren's birthday that the floor had not been fixed properly, and it would need to be fixed AGAIN. We had been waiting for several weeks for the flooring guys to come fix it, so when they called the night before this and said they'd be there in the morning, we didn't want to turn them down. Almost as soon as Chris returned from taking Brianna to school, the floor guys arrived and began working on our floor . . . again.

This fix was not even close to as big as the last fix (thankfully!), but it still required trim to be ripped off the walls, flooring to be torn up, and painters to come repaint and touch-up.

While the floor guys were working on our floors, we decided to take a walk and let Bren test out his new bike.

This was really the first time the girls had been outside on their new trikes, as well.

It was super windy outside, but that didn't bother Brooke!

Brecklyn was having a great time, too.

And Bren was loving his new bike! He makes me laugh with his safety glasses :-).

For lunch that day, Bren requested that we have summer sausage, triscuits, fruit, and a veggie tray. I was thankful for a simple and easy request, especially since our kitchen was occupied by the floor guys and later the painters. Thankfully, they were able to get everything completed and put back together by that afternoon!

The afternoon was spent playing with Bren while Brooke and Brecklyn napped, then more playing outside after Brianna got home from school. We typically allow the children to choose what they want to eat for dinner on the evening of their birthdays. They can request a favorite meal to eat at home or choose a place to go. Brenson decided that he wanted to eat at Taco Bell for his birthday. Yes, TACO BELL, haha! He loves Taco Bell, but we rarely go there to eat. He also wanted to invite Russ, Lisa, and Chloe Jo to join us for dinner and cake afterwards at our house. 

Chloe Jo, Bren, and Brianna at Taco Bell

Bren was loving it (I'm not sure the rest of us felt the same, ha)!

After we got back to our house, it was time for Bren to open his gifts. 

I found this Paw Patroller plane on a great sale right after Christmas and had been keeping it for Brenson ever since. He was thrilled with it!

The downtown of our town is full of unique antique and junk shops, as well as several fun boutiques. Once in a while, we'll walk through some of the shops, and one day Chris found this antique, child-sized, leather tool belt. We knew it would be something Bren would love, so we picked it up for him. Birthday shopping was super easy for him because I already had most of his gifts stashed away!

Of course, he had to put it on immediately.

Bren's final gift was this manly apron he can use when he helps in the kitchen. Cooking is something that Bren really enjoys, but he's always wearing a girly apron when helping out. Chris had the same issue until I had him a manly apron made for Christmas. I hired my sister to make both aprons, so they match really well and are both monogrammed (which I love, although I'm not sure the boys care).

After gifts, it was time for cake! Bren had gone with me to the store to pick out his cake, so this design was his choice. Notice he's still wearing the apron :-).

Blowing out five candles like a pro!

Brooke is in the background like, "Let's just eat already!" haha.

Russ, Lisa, and Chloe Jo headed home shortly after cake, and Brenson, Brianna, and I spent just a little time in his bedroom playing with a new Lego set he received.

Finally, before bed, I had to soak up a few snuggles from my FIVE-year-old boy. He has brought us so much joy over the past five years, and we had a great day celebrating HIM!