Argh, Mateys! It's a Pirate party!

Kemper bounced around MANY different theme ideas for his birthday this year...ninjas, Cars, Batman and pirates were the front runners.  He finally settled (with a little begging and prodding from Mom) on a pirate party!  

I hit the jackpot at Oriental Trading while preparing for this party!  This foam board pirate ship cupcake stand was $4!  I already had the burlap table runners and added a few of Kemper's Jake & the Neverland Pirate characters around the ship.  I cut triangles out of scrapbook paper and strung them onto jute to make the banners.  After going all out for his superhero party last year and just finishing Hudson's 1st birthday a couple weeks earlier, my goal was to go simple for this party.  The banners took, by far, the longest to complete but even that was only about 20 minutes.  

Another Oriental Trading score - pirate swords, eye patches and bandannas for all of the party guests.  

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Another burlap table runner along with black plates and pirate napkins from Hobby Lobby and I called the dining room done.  We ordered party platters from Subway because Kemper LOVES sandwiches and Subway is his favorite.  He was thrilled!  To finish off the food we added chips and some fresh fruit.  

Much to Amber's dismay, James picked up some red and white balloons to add to the banners.  

Pirate Kemper ready for his guests to arrive!!!

Hudson was in a considerably better mood for Kemper's party than he was for his own.

Captain Cooper was ready to party, too!  

We were shocked that he kept his bandanna on! 

Then he goes and leaves the eye patch on, too!

Cooper, Harper and Hudson.  It was so fun to see these sweet babies together!  Casey, Jenny and I were all pregnant at the same time.  Hudson is the oldest (13 months) then Cooper (9 months) who is only a few days older than Harper.  

We played pin the treasure on the map.

Mrs. Lauren hanging out with Harper.

Then it was time to walk the plank!!

Gavin and Kemper share a birthday.  So hard to believe these guys are 5 years old!  I'm so thankful that the Gavin and his family are stationed at Campbell with us.  It was fun to see these kiddos as babies together in Germany and now we get to see them grow and start school together!

Mrs. Amber hanging out with Hudson.

Lynse and Pirate Puppy as Trenton requested we call him that day.  

At Kemper's 2nd birthday party, I asked all of the kids to sit on the couch so I could get a group picture...that tradition has continued over the years and I really love having the group pictures - it's fun to see how much they've grown and changed!  At Kemper's 4th birthday, Miss Haley was the baby of the bunch but this year, she was right in the mix with the big kids and there were 3 new babies!  (Addi was at the party too but wasn't feeling the group picture.)

Cupcake time!  

Hudson really enjoyed his cupcake...this was a redo for him since he didn't touch his cake at his party.

Next, it was time for the treasure hunt.  James came up with clues and hid them around the yard.  Each clue would lead them to another flag with the next clue until they found the treasure chest!

Gavin spotted the treasure!!

I took a styrofoam cooler and hot glued brown craft paper to it to make the treasure chest.  The treasure was a party favor bag for each guest.  There were bubbles, pirate rubber duckies, pirate finger puppets, pirate stickers and a bag of gold-de-bloons for each kid.  

Pirate Kemper seemed pretty happy with his loot!

I love that it was been nice enough weather for the kids to play outside at their birthday parties.  Hudson's will probably be hit or miss each year but I think we'll probably be able to have quite a few of Kemper's parties outside. 

Argh!

Family pic

Present time - he was so excited to get The Lion King 1 1/2!

Thanking Mrs. Jenny and Harper for his gift card!

Kemper was blessed to make such a wonderful friend when we first moved to Tennessee.  Joey has been at Kemper's 2nd, 3rd, 4th and now 5th birthday parties which is basically unheard of when it comes to a military child!  We were so excited that Casey, Joey and Cooper were able to come visit and even more excited that it coincided with his birthday party!  

I am afraid that next year it may be a hard sell to convince Kemper to have a party at home.  This year he was pretty set on a Chuck E Cheese party but I was able to convince him that we could have a really cool party at home but I feel those days are numbered.  I really enjoy planning the kids birthday parties and having our friends celebrate with us at home but when it comes down to it, as long as the birthday boy has a good time, I guess that's all that matters!

Marshmallow Bunny Thief

Unfortunately, I have no pictures to add to this story but I wanted to write it down so that I don't forget.  

The boys and I were in Publix a few days after Easter and noticed they had their Easter candy on sale.  Not one to pass up chocolate marshmallow bunnies, I picked up 2 packs (8 bunnies per pack).  Kemper and I each had one for dessert with dinner that night.  

The following day, I picked Kemper up from school and when I got home, I took Hudson upstairs to put him down for a nap.  When I came back down, I could hear Kemper in the kitchen but he scurried off when I hit the bottom of the stairs.  I could hear him giggling but didn't think anything of it because I thought he was just trying to hide.  I asked him to play quietly while Hudson napped and he decided he wanted to play outside on his playset.  

I decided that I wanted a marshmallow bunny but when I got to where I was keeping the packs on the counter, I found the pack completely empty.  I stared at it for a minute then grabbed my phone to text James.  I knew James didn't like chocolate marshmallow bunnies but thought maybe he had really wanted something sweet and couldn't find anything else.  

Our text exchange:

Me: Please tell me you at the chocolate bunnies and that Kemper didn't clean out the pack overnight.

James: Hahahahahahahaha

James: I did not baby.

When Kemper came in from outside, I asked him he he had eaten any of the chocolate bunnies.  He said no.  I asked if he was sure.  He said yes.  I told him that they were all gone but mommy didn't eat them and daddy said he hadn't eaten them either.  He said, "It must have been somebody else."  I asked if he was telling the truth which is when he hung his head and said, "I'm sorry!"  I sent him up to his room at that point, partly because I was choking back laughter at the absurdity of him eating 6 chocolate marshmallow bunnies in less than 24 hours and because I was at a loss of what to do.  

Me: OMG.  Just asked him.  He said no.   I said Daddy didn't eat them, are you telling me the truth.  He hung his head and said I'm sorry.

I went up to talk to him and found him sobbing in his room.  He kept saying how sorry he was.  We talked about how sneaking food is not ok and that we had JUST had this discussion the day before. (He had gone down and gotten a granola bar one afternoon after I said no snacks an hour before dinner and did the same thing before bed one night.)  I asked him when he ate them and he told me that instead of getting a granola bar when he woke up that morning (he goes straight downstairs and gets either a granola bar or a NutriGrain bar to hold him over until breakfast) that he ate chocolate bunnies.  I remember seeing some chocolate on his face that morning but just wiped it off thinking it was from a chocolate chip granola bar.  I asked him why he lied to mommy and why he ate them without asking to which is sobbed, "Because they just taste so goooooood!".  At that point, I told him that lying to mommy is not nice and that he was in timeout for sneaking food and lying.  

When I went back to get him from timeout, he said he had something else to tell me.  When he was running from me after I put Hudson down for a nap, he was hiding because he was eating the last bunny and didn't want me to see.  Argh!!!  

So, final count.  5 chocolate bunnies for breakfast and 1 for snack.  At this point, he's reminded me several times that it's not nice to lie to mommy and daddy and that it is not nice to sneak foods, especially sweet treats because mommy will stop buying them.  

We couldn't help but laugh at this (not in front of Kemper) because it's just crazy and absurd.  I definitely think he's hitting a growth spurt and is just famished (he's been eating ALL of his meals and 2 snacks daily and still asking for more).  At his 5-year check up, he is in the 88% for height and 55-60% for weight.  He is, and has always been, a tall string bean.  

For making it through this long story, here's a pic of my handsome boys.  

A BIG surprise for Kemper!

As excited as I was about this particular surprise, I'm pretty proud of myself for not spilling the beans early because it was completely worth it seeing his reaction after school when Joey (and Cooper and Casey) was in the van waiting for him!  I even had tears in my eyes seeing them reunited (shocker, right?)!

They were excited to have a sleepover!  

Casey and I had been talking about how we needed to plan a visit - either us to NC or them back to TN so when it worked out for them to visit us over Joey's spring break, we got to planning and decided to surprise Kemper.  When Casey told Joey they were visiting TN (excitement in and of itself for Joey!) and that they were going to surprise Kemper (even MORE excitement!) she was stoked!  I picked them up on Thursday afternoon and we drove straight to Kemper's school to pick him up.  When he opened the van door and saw Cooper's car seat where his normally is, he looked confused and then started looking around to investigate.  When he saw Joey, his eyes got as big as saucers and he exclaimed "Joey!!!" and started climbing back to his seat.  After that, he was basically speechless - he just kept looking at her like he was checking to make sure she was really there!  When we got back to our house they ran upstairs and played so happily until it was time for dinner...no fighting, no coming downstairs and asking us a million questions.  They fell right back into their old routine and it made my heart smile.  

Cooper enjoying a lazy morning. 

If given the chance, I think these two would have been just as close as their older siblings!

The next morning, we let the babies get their naps in and then we headed out for a quick errand before hitting the park.  It was a BEAUTIFUL day and we wanted to get them outside and let them run off some energy!  

They were all over the playground and had a blast!!  Hit a bit of a snag when Joey found another little girl to play with and Kemper got a bit jealous but after a few minutes all was well again and back to playing they went!

Cooper got a little nap in while the big kids played.

Hudson and I swinging

It's so hard to believe how much older they look than the last time they were together!!  We last saw Joey at the beach in September and I swear they are both a foot taller.  

Up next was lunch at Chick Fil A!  After spending the last hour and a half playing at the playground, they scarfed down their lunches and played in the play area there for a bit, too!

The lure of ice cream kept them from playing too long!

Cooper even got a taste!  

Kemper asked Casey if he could hold Cooper. :)  

Licking the beaters after we mixed up the cupcakes

The next morning was Kemper's birthday!!  We loaded up and went to Dunkin' Donuts to pick up some birthday donuts for breakfast.  Thank goodness they have a drive thru so we could all stay in our pjs!  After popping a candle in his sprinkle donut and singing Happy Birthday, they quickly ate their donuts and disappeared off to play.  Casey and I got to work getting everything ready for Kemper's birthday party that was later in the afternoon.

While we were getting stuff ready, this guy found a chocolate Easter egg and chowed down.  I noticed he was chewing something so I stuck my finger in his mouth to find the wrapper and a ton of chocolate.  He didn't look a bit remorseful. :)

Kemper and Joey played hard all day with a few breaks for snacks and lunch.  They were VERY excited for Kemper's birthday party that afternoon and kept asking us if it was 3 o'clock yet.  

All decked out in their pirate gear ready for the party!!  We figured out that Joey has been at every one of Kemper's birthday parties from the age of 2 through 5.  :)  For an Army kid, that's pretty remarkable!  

They had an early flight out of Nashville on Sunday morning so we all got up (except Hudson because I would have to be CRAZY to wake that kid up early!) to say goodbye to our friends.  Kemper and Joey did much better than anticipated and then Kemper and I climbed back into my bed to cuddle while James took them to the airport.

We have been truly blessed that the Army has introduced us to such wonderful friends along our journey.  Casey was one of the first people I met when we moved to Ft. Campbell and Joey was the first friend Kemper made when we moved here.  I count my lucky stars that our paths crossed because they are some of the best friends our family could have ever dreamed of meeting.  I'm thankful that even though the Army has separated us for now that we are able to keep in touch (thank goodness for Skype!) and that we've been able to visit and meet up with each other a couple of times since they moved.  Casey is one of the people that I know I can call when I need to talk or vent or just throw an idea off of to see what her opinion on the matter is.  I cherish our friendship and the fact that our kids love one another, too.  One of these days, maybe the Army will bring us back together...by then, who knows, Kemper and Joey may not be able to stand one another (I bet one of them has cooties by then!) but for now, I cherish the memories of their laughter and happiness when they're together!

Kemper is 5!

Kemper turned 5 years old last Saturday...good grief how time has flown by!!

For Kemper's birthday, we had a pirate themed party (I'll do a separate post) and his friend Joey was visiting from North Carolina (another separate post)!!!

Ready for cupcakes with his class

Kemper is such an awesome kid...James and I cannot get over just how amazing and sweet he is.  He is such a great big brother and so thoughtful - always looking out for his brother.  He is sweet and loving.  Even at 5, he still loves a good cuddle with mom or dad.  

  

Kemper and Gavin share a birthday so we celebrated both of their birthdays with their class!

Kemper has always been an early riser and that holds true at age 5.  He has an "Okay to Wake" clock in his room that changes to green when it's ok for him to get out of bed in the morning...otherwise, he would be up at 6am.  James has caught him with his light on as early as 5:45am when he's leaving for work but he plays quietly and waits for the clock to turn green at 7:15am before he comes out of his room.  He goes straight down to the pantry to get himself a granola bar and then plays quietly (seriously, unless he comes into our room he's like a ninja and plays in the playroom silently) until Hudson wakes up.  He very rarely naps but still has quiet time when he's at home (and naptime at school daily).  Sometimes he'll fall asleep and take 2-3 hour naps but most of the time, he just plays in his room until quiet time is over.  He goes to bed around 8pm but rarely falls asleep before 9pm.  

Handsome boy at the park

I don't have his official stats until we go to the doctor next week (he's already worried about whether he has to get shots or not) but in February, he was 44in tall and 42lbs.  He wears size 5 shirts and pants but still needs the adjustable waists or else they'll fall right off!  He wears a size 12 shoe.  

Birthday morning donut

He is super excited to start Kindergarten next year and really does love going to pre-K.  He is turning out to be quite the artist and regularly amazes James and I with his drawings.  

The following is a questionnaire I found online and hope to remember to ask him these every year on/around his birthday.  

What makes you happy?  "When Hudson does silly things."

What is your favorite animal? "Horses"

What is your favorite thing to eat? "Granola bar"

What is your least favorite thing to eat? "The pizza grandma makes because it's spicy"

What is your favorite thing to do? "Play"

What is your favorite TV show? "Batman"

What are you really good at? "Drawing and coloring"

What is your favorite movie? "The Lion King"

What is your favorite color? "Blue"

What is your favorite song? "ABCs"

Who is your best friend? "Gavin"

What do you and your mom do together? "Read"

What do you and your dad do together? "Build tents"

What is your favorite sport? "The kind that Pops likes"

Where is your favorite place to go? "Disney World"

What is your favorite book? "Jack and Annie" (AKA The Magic Treehouse Books)

What do you want to be when you grow up? "A super hero"

Happy 5th Birthday to our sweet Kemper!!  We are so proud of the young man you are becoming and we love you very much!  I cannot wait to watch you as you continue to grow and mature!