The Luke Turns Five (without the store clerk but with a chess cake)


Last week after nearly a year of looking forward to this birthday our Luke finally turned five!  All year long any time we went somewhere, met someone, talked about something fun, it was made part of his grand birthday plan.  We didn't do about 99% of what he had planned (there was no water slide, we didn't travel to Rome, and we decided not to invite the clerk at the grocery store) but I still think we celebrated well.  

We spent his actual birthday at home quietly, after adultfully deciding not to do the super special museum day that was the original plan.  (Let's just say we did not have an exceptional day the day before.)  It turned out okay, though.  We celebrated Saint Lucy's in the morning, opened family gifts, the boys went sledding, and then we treated ourselves to a pizza dinner.  I think it was a good call and no one seemed to mind that we changed the plan.

Over the weekend we had a small dinner party as his official celebration with a really low key game theme.  The boy loves games and puzzles and is nearly always doing one or the other.


Our Saint Lucy baby lucks out with an extra cake in the morning!


You know how the internet is awesome?  Well, it is.  The husband and I thought that Luke would really like the game Guess Who? 
"But those faces are SO ugly and cartoony," I said.  
(Really, they're freaky looking.)  
"Wouldn't it be cool if we could do, like, a saint version or something?" he replied.  
"We should totally do that!  That would be great...except you have to do it because I have zero patience or time for all that formatting," I responded.  
"Wait, let me check online first...I wonder if someone has thought of this before."



With a few clicks and the husband's office printer (yay color!) we had the pieces!  We did have to glue them onto bigger pieces of cardstock since the edition from Amazon didn't match the sizing of hers but it wasn't a huge deal.  Can I just say I'm so so grateful for Jessica and the many many many ways she is gifted, does a ton of work, and then shares those gifts free of charge?


So now we have a Guess Who? Saint Edition game because we're those type of Catholics.  And the boys have been playing it a bunch and getting some hagiography at the same time :)

I know I say it all the time but I just love the gifts they make or pick out for each other and watching them exchange them.

Sometimes they buy, sometimes they make, sometimes they give them something of theirs to have.  It's the best.

John Paul came up with the idea for this little word maker toy thing and made it himself.  We didn't even realize it was really a thing until it popped up in my Amazon searching yesterday!





 They had fun!  (And I stayed warm in the house and got things done!)

Oddly enough one of his favorite games is chess and he's not half bad!  He was quite pleased :)

It's not perfect but I still love how it turned out!

 The chess pieces were made a few days before using this mold.  The chocolate side is dual-colored because I was running out of the chocolate chips and had to mix in some darker chocolate bar to finish them!  And yes, that's a lot of chocolate.


Having a baby during Advent is super fun.  Having a kid with a birthday during Advent is...not as much.  But the theme lent to some easy if sparse decor...

Much fancy.




Luke, you are wild, hysterical, willful, confident, bright, entertaining, charming, and a force to be reckoned with.  But more than anything you are an amazing gift from God to our family.  We love you so much.  Now you can officially start planning for number 6...


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6 comments

  1. Wow! Those Chess pieces are very cool! A wonderful looking cake. How exciting to be 5!

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  2. Happy Birthday, Luke! (Guess Who is the game-du-jour here. Maybe I can give it the Saints edition makeover once it's run it's first course!).

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  3. That cake is amazing, Mary! You're birthday skills are seriously inspiring! Happy Birthday, Luke!

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  4. Another amazing birthday cake - love it! Happy Birthday Luke!

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  5. Oh my goodness. When I saw the cake on instagram. I didn't realize you MADE THE CHESS PIECE. That is incredible, and so tasty!

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  6. I love all of the pics! Happy Birthday Luke!! We have a VERY excited almost 5-year old in this house as well. Her birthday is 12/26 and to say she is a bit amped up this week would be an understatement. ;) And yes, she has been telling people she is almost 5 for quite a while, so cute!!

    And I totally agree with you, Jessica is AWESOME!! Love her and her blog!!!

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