Sometimes the box is the best part of the present.

Grandma Tam made a poop emoji with wings the flew all around the house and a Super Bookworm (not pictured) that snuggled with Ivan in his bed last night.

Grandma Liz made the cakes. TWO CAKES! one for each birthday guy.

We took Ivan to Pixel Blast which is an old school arcade in Lisle.

Together they will rule the mushroom kingdom as father and son!

We went out for a very nice dinner at Lao Szechuan. Ivan looked like this during any but the moments he was guzzling the Fish in Ginger Scallion Sauce dish that he has loved since he was 2.
Ivan was happy his birthday was filled with the 4 Ps – Poop, Pee, Pancakes and Pokemon!

It was served with extra creamy vanilla ice cream. Ivan’s favorite.

Those five candles never had a chance.

Here’s grandma reading the newly published Dog Man. Even though it features an evil cat (I think cats are a force for good), it is a great book featuring both dog & bird poop, head transplants, and more zany than its pages should be able to contain.

My kindergar-nerd is 5.
It’s been a big week with his first full week of school EVER and the birthday celebration.

Ivan is Fivin’ like a pro.

This is his birthday cake. It’s green and decorated with Mario figures. He says we should do 3 cakes – A Pokemon one, a Spongebob one and a Mario one. We’ll see what happens. Since they could be small and just decorated with existing small plastic toys, it’s possible I’ll make/buy 2 more small cakes over the next week or so.

Ezri declared that Ivan’s birthday, “Smells like Hanukkah.” We don’t light candles or matches very often. I like that for her a lit match’s smell reminds her of the Hanukkah.

Ezri wanted to be in a photo too. It’s hard when it’s your little brother’s birthday. Though she does get to play with some of his presents. She took him around the school yard in the morning pointing out to anyone who’d listen that it was her brother’s birthday. She physically picked him up and carried him around for some of this.

Grandma Liz made these *almost* too cute to eat minion marshmallows and a green frosted cake.
Ezri wanted one for breakfast, but I said no.
I am cruel.
Ivan doesn’t like to eat the eyes, but Ezri thinks they are delicious. So, he gives her the eyes off his minion marshmallows.

At school they celebrated making him a crown and letting him put candles on a virtual cake. I got to come into class and read Count the Monkeys by Mac Barnett. Ivan did his part repeating lines from the book and declaring that the polka dotted rhinoceroses playing bagpipes with bad breath were his idea!

After school we picked up Ivan’s friend T and went to Chuck E. Cheese to dance with a giant mouse and ride in the monster truck and play “villains” and eat pizza.

The day after his birthday I let Ivan eat cake for breakfast. He was very impressed with this and has declared cake for breakfast one of his favorite things about his birthday.

These were his three birthday wishes.

1) The wish to go to Dunkin Donuts. We took Dragon and Saki (the sock monkey). We danced to the music they play.

2) The wish to go to the Library. We read 6 stories, fed Dragon pretend food, and Miss Tracy gave him a birthday stamp of a green cake with 3 candles.

3) The wish for green cake with green frosting that is all green. (He did not notice the lack of green candles. I distracted him, by adding Scooby Doo and a ninja turtle).

Nothing left but crumbs.