Today, our baby boy turns 5.

Five years ago today he was born via an unfortunate emergency c-section, but strong and healthy and cute as could be.

He was even lucky enough to be born during the year of the golden pig!

And to visit the beach soon after he was born. Even though he's now a full-minnesotan who, for his birthday, chose a trip to Duluth as his present, his birth certificate will always say: Santa Cruz, CA.

Quinn's week of birthday celebrations started this past Thursday, when Moin and I brought ice-cream sandwiches to his preschool. Thursday also happened to be his last day at the lab school, where he has attended preschool for the last three years, so I'll admit I was a bit weepy.

However, my tears quickly turned to laughter when I walked in and found Quinn eating lunch looking like this!

Apparently they had done some rock-face-painting earlier in the day. Later he and his buddy Emmett put on their pirate hats and went out to explore!

We were happy to be there on the last day of school both to celebrate Quinn's birthday, and also celebrate his time at the lab school. Words cannot express how wonderful his time there has been, and he will be benefiting from his three years there for the rest of his life.

This past Saturday we celebrated Quinn's birthday with a family get together.

As you can see, Penelope did not want to do the family photo.

We had my parents, Kelly, Anna, Eli, Todd, Patrick, and Dana (Anna's friend) here to celebrate. So fun!

Remember the alphabet book I blogged about earlier? Quinn absolutely loved it!

Zahra even cries every time she sees it now because she doesn't want Quinn to read it to her ANYMORE!

Quinn was a good sport about his sisters helping with the present opening.

They even each got a present of their own (a sesame street book). Here's Penelope about to open hers, which is wrapped in typical awesome moin-wrapping fashion.

Our big present for Quinn was the game Candyland, which he was (as expected) super-excited about.

Luckily the teenagers (Anna, Eli, Patrick, and Dana) were here to play with him! Patrick especially seemed to enjoy himself :)

But, as is always the case with Quinn, the big event was the food. For his birthday meal he selected hot dogs (beef and tofu), fries, corn and salad. And to be honest, he did not select the corn and salad. Moin and I added those parts.

Then it was cake time! Quinn selected a Thomas cake this year.

We were lucky to have a bunch of the neighbors come over and enjoy cake, ice cream, and happiness with us. Look at all these people celebrating Quinn!

The girls did not want any cake and only wanted to play basketball.

The teenagers were happy to have cake, though, and even sat on the little swingset to have it. Who are the little ones again? :)

The final leg of Quinn's birthday celebration is our trip to Duluth this weekend. Just Moin and I will take him, while the girls stay with my parents. We did this for his birthday last year and he loved it and requested it as his present again this year. I'll do another post about that next week.

As it stands, here are Quinn's favorite things as a five-year-old.
Book: Captain Underpants & The Syed Children's alphabet book
TV Show: Hey kids, let's cook and Diners, Drive-ins and Dives
Activity: playing candyland
Song: Not sure, but he loves both Yo Gabba Gabba albums
Color: orange
Food: Reeces Peanut Butter cups

Happy Birthday Quinn. We love you!