Happy "Lego" Birthday Brother!

Party time!! Today we celebrated Brother's 5th birthday...I am not sure where the last 5 years went, I remember praying for him like it was yesterday.  He asked for a Lego party and we decided to celebrate at the fire station (with the park next door).  It worked out perfectly.  We had beautiful weather, an amazing turn out, (it was the 1st year Brother made a list of who to invite...silly boy, he loves his friends at school :), and the kids really seemed to enjoy checking out the fire station (plus the bay was a great size to hold everyone).

I took a few pictures of the decorations before everyone got there.  (It isn't too fancy, still a fire station, you know?! :)

I didn't even realize Sister jumped in this one until later...ha!  The party was 10:30-12:30pm so we focused on snacks (veggies, fruit, puffercorn, pretzels and cake...perfect for little people :)

 Drink table and where all the gifts went (Brother has HOURS of lego building ahead of him...just wait you will see :)

 

 Brother and Sister colored some signs to hang at the station and the playground that said "Happy Birthday Brother" with a lego man.

 Family pictures on the fire truck! (Hubby was actually working today, so we prayed he didn't get a call, but I told everyone at least on the positive side if he did, the kids would get to see lights and sirens.  Thankfully he got to stay with us the whole time :)

 Sister's coloring sheet and sign for the playground (she was a little distracted :)

 Brother's friends started to get there and I didn't see him much for the next couple of hours...at least not in the sea of other children.

 Sister and Cousin, GO.  Sweet friends, Sister was SO happy she was there :)

 I am pretty sure this was right after some more of his buddies got there....they ran to each other like they hadn't seen each other in forever.  Love it!  They ran around on the playground for about 15 minutes until pretty much everyone got there.  And then we started a few games...

 When I have that many kids under 6 or so, I like to have a plan :)  I came up with a few games we could play with legos to help tie in the theme.  I told all the kids 4 and older (or others if they wanted to play) to come to the field next to the playground and I split them into 3 teams.

 The 1st game they had to run to a bucket filled with legos and a few pennies.  They had to find the penny, pass it to me and then run tag the next player.  It was a cute relay race and they did really well.

 Next we used megablocks and spread 20 of each color out all over the field.  Each team had to find all 20 of their blocks and build a tower 1st.  They did wonderful!! I was really proud of how well they did...and Brother said it was one of his favorite parts. (He is definitely our kid... we love games!)

 I loved watching them all use their "team building skills" ha! Preschoolers can work together!

 These 3 boys did great! Brother was excited they won this game... I can see them working together for many years :)

Ha! I love this picture...

 Sister found someone to push her in the swing...I am honestly not sure who.  Probably Grandpa :)

 After the games we headed to the bay / station for Hubby to show the kids his gear and do his "preschool" talk.  They all seemed to really like it. They asked questions, sat still and enjoyed watching him put on all his gear.  (We didn't time him this time!)

 They try to teach the kids to not be scared of them in all their gear...it is a great lesson to learn, so if they see a firefighter in an emergency situation it won't freak them out (well freak them out any more hopefully).

 We tried to get a picture of all the kids by the firetruck (the birthday boy is behind his Sister).  They did great except they were facing the sun :)

Next the got to try on Hubby's gear, sit in the fire truck and color some pictures...they kind of rotated through at their own pace.

 The line for the firetruck...

 Brother is creeping in his good friend AM's picture...ha!

 Coloring table...

Lastly, we all sat back down in the bay, sang Happy Birthday to Brother and ate some yummy snacks.

 I wasn't sure if we would get a chance to open presents there, but since we still had some time he went for it!

Transformers mask...

 Batman craft set and Legos! (Legos are a common theme...we are trying to build his "supply", so it was great!)

 Thor hammer!

 Legos...

 Legos...

 and Legos :)

We played on the playground a little more before we headed out (and while we were cleaning).  It was a beautiful day and I was glad we could take advantage of it.  A big thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate with us and my Mom for being my extra pair of hands this morning while Hubby was at the station.  (And my Sister who took some pictures and stuff for us. Love it!)  While the were napping I emptied the car, made Brother's thank you list and put everything away...well except his pile.  This is much bigger than his Christmas haul will be (which as a friend pointed out to me the other day is the right way to do it anyway...celebrate Brother on his b-day and Jesus on his :). 

 

 This is just the Lego stuff... (notice the towel on top...so cute!)

 He knew we had to write thank you notes before he could play with anything, so he woke up from nap ready to color, cut, tape and write.  I thought they turned out cute!

 Sister and I helped him color a little, but he did good filling out the rest himself.

Afterwards, we had fun opening some of the presents and watching the football game.  It was a great day and wore us all out.  Another great example of taking all the fun to Hubby AT the fire station. Gotta love it, cause that's how we roll.  Just a couple more days until I have a 5 year old! Wow!