Autobots Assemble!

Summer time is birthday season in this house. Our last one of the summer is Alexander's!

Four years ago this amazing guy came quicker on the heels of big brother Kaleb than we were planning or expecting but oh what a blessing he has been.
Alexander is very social and has such a big heart. He loves helping out and he's the quickest to give a hug and kiss or help someone feel happy again. He gets very sad if someone raises their voice, even if it's not directed toward him.
He is very talkative and always has a lot to say.
He loves his alphabet and numbers. He's been sounding out letters and figuring out how they fot together to create words. He is so excited to start preschool.
He loves music. Right now one of his favorites is The Piano Guys; especially their Star Wars music video. He loves to sing and loves to 'play' the piano.
He loves weapons of all kinds and will turn anything into a gun or sword.
His favorite food is a Nutella sandwich, string cheese, and yogurt. In fact, it's impossible to get him to eat anything else.
Right now he is 39 lbs and 41 inches tall and tells me everyday to watch him, he's growing bigger right that second.
His birthday was on a Monday this year, Labor Day. Sadly, most of us had a nasty stomach bug so we had to cancel his party. I felt so bad, last year we were all sick as well and were stuck with a 12 layer R2-D2 cake. At least we didn't have whooping cough this year. It was actually good we had to cancel. I had been so sick the past several days that I hadn't prepared anything at all. At one point I even ended up at the clinic with an IV dripping in my arm replenishing my dehydrated body.
We decided to go ahead with family fun despite the canceled friends party.
We had all his presents ready for him when he woke up ... including the trampoline:

Alexander got some money from both his grandparents. I took him to WalMart on Saturday and told him to pick out any toy he wanted. Of course he had to pick the loudest, most annoying toy ever. A gun that lights up and makes blaster/laser sounds. I tried to convince him of other equally awesome toys. Oh no, the gun was what he wanted and nothing else would do. And then he declared, "mom, stop it, it's my money" - well, okay then. Get the gun. It made him so happy. I made him wait to open it until his birthday, I wanted something to wrap. I also made him get some much needed clothes. This kid suddenly sprouted and needs a whole new wardrobe! Same size as his big brother.

 All his loot:

After present opening it was time for breakfast. Alexander ordered crepes and hot chocolate, with marshmallows, for his birthday breakfast.

One if his best friends stopped by to drop off her present.

We took him to the store bakery to pick out a small treat so he could still blow out candles on his birthday.

By mid-week we were all feeling 100%

I called and emailed all his friends and told them the party was back on! I quickly got to work and prepared a very simple Transformers party (one of his favorite movies)
chocolate lollipops:

All Spark Jell-O cubes:
Can you believe I'm 30 years old and have never made Jell-O? Crazy I know. I don't really care for Jell-O, especially with added vegetables, fruit, or random floaty things. I called up some friends and family to ask for help, how do I make Jell-O you can hold?

 Energon Fuel to drink ... grape and lime juice. With limes floating on top.

a banner with Alexander's name. Yes, that was a lot of precision cutting with an Exact-O knife:

And of course, the cake:
Alexander ordered chocolate cake. His actual order was chocolate, chocolate chip with chocolate frosting. Well, he got chocolate with vanilla frosting. We added a simple Auto-Bot symbol with a store-bought (yuck!) piece of edible sugar sheet. I cut out the template and had Jake use that to cut out all the pieces for the cake.
I also made vanilla cupcakes for those, like big brother Kaleb, who don't really like chocolate.

 A very happy birthday boy. This is why I put so much time and effort into these birthday parties.

 I carried the cake out and the realized I left a certain imprint ... eeew

 Happy Birthday Alexander!

I will plan and decorate for any party but I don't do games. Never have, probably never will (don't quote me on that). Thankfully some friends came that have an awesome mom who is really good at entertaining kids and playing games.

Alexander took over the camera to take some pictures of his friends. I don't like to post pictures online of people who might not want me to. But, I had to share these few:
This is Joy Watkins. One of Alexander's best friends. She lives in our apartment complex. He calls her princess.

 and this was just a really good one of some more of his friends who joined us:

It ended up being a perfect day. I'm grateful so many of his friends were still able to come. We love you Alexander. Happy birthday!