I cannot believe my Chase Monkey is 5!!!!! I mean really, how did that happen so quickly?! It feels like yesterday that we were at UCLA hospital and they were placing him in my arms for the first time. With that being said though, I really don't remember life without him so in that aspect it feels like a lot longer than 5 years. I thank God everyday for making me a Mom 5 years ago and Chase will always be our special monkey man that turned us into parents!
Chase is such a fun 5 year old and I am amazed everyday at how smart kids are at 5 and how much he understands and is absorbing. Chase is our thinker and observer. He is also a totally wild hyper boy but he has always been one to be shy at first and watch what is going on. He has always been super coordinated and picked up on things very quickly by watching others do it. At 2 he was killing baseballs that you would pitch to him and he is still an amazing hitter. His hand eye coordination is unreal. Because of this he learned how to ride a bike at 4 with one push from Daddy and never fell down, he was off and biking ever since. To this day we can go on multiple mile bike rides and he keeps up or is leading us. He has also done 2 5K's this year and ran/walked the whole thing without ever complaining. He has picked up any sport he has tried and just has an amazing athletic ability.
He has such a gentle heart and is so caring if anything is wrong with you or he does something wrong. He also pushes our buttons like crazy and throws crazy temper tantrums, don't get me wrong, but if he sees one of us get hurt or sees me crying, etc...he is so sensitive and wants to make it better. (Brady is quite the opposite - lol) But Chase is our people pleaser and very cooperative most of the time. He is very well known for getting on a roll and cleaning up every single toy, putting shoes away, hanging up jackets, etc without being asked just because I think he truly thrives on praise from us and other people.
For his 5th birthday Chase was super excited to have his birthday party at a gymnastics place we know very well. My nieces have had their birthdays here a few times and Chase and I used to do Mommy and Me classes here when I was on maternity leave with Brady. It is such a great place for birthdays!
Stretching to get started...most of the kids were late - lol!
Obstacle course
Listening to the teachers to hear all the rules before they were let loose to play
Ashlyn climbing the cargo net all the way to the top!!
Chase loving the rope swing! One time the teacher even twisted it around like crazy so Chase was swinging and spinning in circles like crazy, he loved it :)
Brady deciding whether he wanted to jump in the foam pit or not....he opted not!
Parachute time - always a hit
Singing Happy Birthday to Chase inside the parachute
At the end of the gymnastics playtime the kids all got stamps on their hands and feet
Chase and all his buddies!
Next it was into the party room for pizza, cake and presents!
Chase with his dirt bike cake! I made it the night before but forgot to get a close up picture of it :(
On Monday, Chase was under the weather with a bad cough/cold so he stayed home with me. That afternoon he received a birthday package from Aunt Christine, Uncle Jim and Ben!
Balloons were inside that he had to pop and cash came flying out - he was so excited and thought it was the coolest thing!!
Cash money!!!
Tuesday was Chase's actual birthday so I showed up at school at 3pm and brought popsicles for his class. They sang to him and enjoyed the popsicles outside in the beautiful weather! Carson even stayed later at pre-k that day so he could help celebrate with Chase :)
That night we had a nice family birthday at home. Chase requested breakfast for dinner and it had to include yellow pancakes (his favorite color!) So we had yellow pancakes, waffles, eggs, sausage and strawberries :) Then it was time for more presents, playing outside and inside with new toys and finally another little ice cream cake.
He is like, "are you seriously still taking pictures?" Lol, nice face!
Riding his new razor outside!
Brady is pretty excited about his "new" hand me down razor :)
Ending the night trying out his new water gun backpack and hotwheel wall toy!
Another amazing year in the books, can't wait to see what 5 brings to you and to us Chase!
