Under the sea

Since it landed on a Saturday, it was fun to have Sam's birthday party with friends and family on his actual birthday. His choice this year was "sea animals", so we went with the under-the-sea idea. Although he first wanted a seal cake since seals are his favorite sea animal, he ended up chosing the whale as the main animals surrounded by many other sea creatures. He asked for a pinata this year which was a huge hit! I considered making an octopus since I found an online tutorial for one, but because of time we ended up purchasing the fish. I'm sure it was designed for the candy to come out of the fish's mouth, but it surprised us. So, Sam is now five years old and for some reason it seems like a lot older than four. I guess simply realizing that we've been parents longer than we were married without kids makes me stop and think.

One of his favorite gifts was a digital camera designed for kids. He's enjoyed taking multiple pictures of the same thing and irritating Zach since he's often one of his subjects. We now have more pictures of the inside of our van (mostly of Eli since he faces Sam) than I think necessary. But, since photography seems to run in Daspit blood (Doug's grandparents owned a studio), it seems appropriate to encourage his interest. I didn't know it, but perhaps the 5th birthday is the hi-tech one because he also received walkie-talkies and a kid laptop (besides the Leapster he found in his Christmas stocking).

Sam is a joy to our family. I'm so glad that he made us parents five years ago.