The Quist Family: Daniel is 5!!!

Where did those last five years go? Daniel turned five this year on April 1st. It was a special birthday because it fell on Palm Sunday again; the last time his birthday fell on Palm Sunday was the day he was born, 5 years ago. He has such a unique, fun, and wonderful personality. He is incredibly smart, and physically talented, and the sky is the limit for this one. We're so proud of him, and while we don't want to rush through these fun years, we can't wait to see what God has in store for him.
Like most years, we had numerous birthday parties. The first one was with the Fedies at the Water park of America near the MOA in Bloomington. Daniel wanted nothing more than to go to a water park. Following some pool time, we all headed back to our hotel room for some pizza, cupcakes, and presents.

Daniel and his cousin Will having fun in the kiddie area

Opening presents in the hotel

Our family stayed at the adjacent Radisson hotel. The kids had their own little room with bunk beds

They both insisted on sleeping on top, and even with the openings packed with pillows and blankets, it was

an all but sleepless night for mom and dad. The slightest noise from that room had dad running to make sure they weren't falling out..

On the morning of April1, he woke up to a flock of flamingos in the front yard again... the neighborhood sure loves it when we do this.

Daniel trying out his new skateboard and pads from John and Amy

The day of his actual birthday, we rented a giant bounce house and put it up in the back yard for the 'neighborhood kids party'. This was party number 2

Daniel got lots of fun stuff from his neighborhood friends

Party nunber 3 consisted of Nate's family coming up. Daniel wanted a Pirate party, and Jen hand crafted this incredible pirate ship birthday cake. It truly was a sight.

Jen even made Daniel a "Jake" outfit from Jake and the Neverland Pirates cartoon that he loves.

And, here's Daniel almost giving Jen a heart attack by pretending to slice the cake with his sword before anyone got a chnace to see it... fortunately, he was just kidding.