Bouncin' into 5!

My William Bradley Barron is turning 5 on Tuesday.

A whole hand.  

5 years have flown by and I still see that one year old baby boy who fell in love with airplanes when he was 9 months old.  But I will leave my birthday tribute for another post.  The "official" birthday post on February 7th.
And in the spirit of a Barron birthday, we like to start our celebration early.  So, today William hosted his 5th birthday party at Bounce U in Tulsa.  Back in October, cousin Jake had a costume bounce house party in Virginia.  William thought it was awesome and insisted that he have a birthday party just like Jake.  And that is exactly what we did.  

We invited William's class of 20 kids to bounce with us in their favorite costume.  William chose his army costume and I knew that he'd be a sweaty mess.  There is nothing breezy about fatigues.  William didn't bat an eye and was DELIGHTED to suit up for the party.  He wore the whole outfit down to the boots.  You should have seen him.  He was so pleased with his costume and proudly walked around to show it off.




Several kids didn't wear costumes, and I can understand why.  Maybe they even forgot, but it was no big deal in William's world.  He didn't notice enough to even comment.  Of the kids who wore costumes, we had Harry Potter, Princesses, Ninja Turtles, Batman, and a butterfly.  And the army man/birthday boy leading the pack!

The kids spent 1 hour bouncing and William was sweaty before it even started.  He was having a BLAST and NEVER. STOPPED. ONCE.  to take a break.  I did force him to drink a glass of water between bounce zones, but other than that, he went full force!  It was so fun to watch his face beam with joy as he paraded around with his pals and bounced his heart out.  
The last 30 minutes of the party were spent having pizza and birthday cookie.  William has never liked cake, so the last several years we've either had individual cookies or a cookie cake.  This year, William chose a cookie cake, specifically chocolate chip and M&M.  He was VERY specific to the lady at Mrs. Fields when we ordered the cake.  He told her the cake had to have a red airplane with a blue propellar, 2 windows and a number 5 on the tail.


Our friends at Mrs. Fields delivered the dream.


Let's note that William's birthday "cakes" the last 4 out of 5 years have all been airplanes.  Yes.  Airplanes.  Shocking don't ya think?


I love these pictures.  Look at the happiness in my boy's face!  These are the moments that simply stop me in my tracks and for a just a second, my world stands still.  
This is one of those moments when I take one look at my little boy and my mind sends me back 5 years ago when we first met. 
And now we are here in THIS moment in time when my little boy is more like a big kid with a heart of gold and an imagination full of innocence and wonder.  
And I. JUST. WANT. IT. TO. STAY. THIS. WAY.