Five! Luke is 5!!!!

A Birthday Report:

Luke had a birthday in September!

First, we decided on a party theme. Dinosaurs it is! Luke was really super excited about it. (Mommy was really excited to have found the idea online and deterred him from some kind of licensed video game character she didn't want to do...)

Luke insisted on inviting all the kids from his Primary class and kept listing them off to me. It was pretty cute.

Here's the invitations we made up and delivered. (With our address blurred out, of course!)


The morning of his birthday I whipped up a batch of chocolate chip pancakes. Can you ever go wrong with chocolate chip pancakes? I mean really.


For lunch Luke got to out to eat with Papa Lay. They went to Dairy Queen and then to Wal-Mart to pick out a gift. Luke came home with 6 new plastic dinosaurs that he was thrilled with. I love presents like that. Inexpensive, but hours of fun!!!

That night we had a little family party. Grandma Lay was in Utah and Papa Lay ended up not being able to come, but we had Great Aunt Vonnie over to eat birthday dinner and cupcakes with us so it was a grand old time!

Opening presents is so fun. He is still a huge fan of Thomas the Train and got a "Shake-Shake Bridge" track set that he'd been wanting. Aunt Vonnie got him an Optimus Prime talking truck and a Scooby-Doo movie that the kids love to watch. A lot.


We're loving how well Luke is doing with his reading. He's picked up so many sight words! We think that our scripture study is what has helped him. It's funny to have him recognize words like "multitude". Big stuff! Here he is reading the birthday card from Grandma and Grandpa Wilkins.


We had chocolate cupcake that night for dessert. Yum.


The LOOT picture!


His party was two days later. The kids played in the backyard first and then we did some games out there too, like our explore for dinosaurs.


Luke and some beauties


We also made "Dinosaur Food" out of dirt (cocoa), swamp water (milk), crushed bones (sugar), squashed bugs (rolled oats), and dried twigs (chow mein noodles). Yummy stuff!


I also attempted a fun cake. I am so not a professional, but I love that I can find ideas online and just go with it. The volcano is a leftover cupcake I stuck on with some toothpicks. I found some of our little dinosaurs and other toys and I thought our little dino scene turned out awesome!


Cake time! (One of my Beehives came with her little sister and helped me out with Timothy. I was SO grateful!)


How happy is this cute boy? Love, love, love him.


I love doing this. So I'm doing it again. Here's pics of Luke Blaine during the year he was 1. Such a cute little toot!

On his 1st birthday


On his first plane ride with Mommy and Papa Lay when we went to Las Vegas when Cousin Cecily was born.


Luke at 19 months when new Baby Rebecca was born.


Summer 2008. He was SO excited about the sprinkler being on, but not adventurous to go in it. I love the look on his face and his chubby little feet.


Mommy and Luke on the boat at Gates of the Mountains


My cute, tired, slightly grumpy boy at the Rockin' R Ranch during the Wilkins Family Reunion.

Sweet, sweet boy.