Dear G, Happy Birthday son!
He did it, he made it to six years old. There were some days in the last year that I may or may not have let slip a threat about seeing his next birthday. That's gentle parenting right there huh?
E and G camped out in the trailer the night before his birthday so that I could wrap presents and do some decorating, etc. They watched The Lego Movie. Again. It's fun, I'll admit. Anyway. Ever since I had sinus surgery back in 2002 I can't blow up balloons without having to plug my nose. As soon as I blow and there's resistance of any kind it comes right out my nose. So those balloons you see (75 of them according to the package) took me a few freaking hours. Good thing I'd been drinking before committing to blowing them up. I had the whole window covered in the hopes that the sunlight coming through them in the morning would look cool. Too bad the window wall o' balloons caved in and I found the balloons scattered all over the living room, dining room, and kitchen. It explained why Siren felt the need to come sleep by me in the middle of the night...balloons freak her out a little bit, especially when they're moving freely in the dead of night. Nothing moves in our house at night normally.
G came in rubbing his eyes, saw the balloons and said, "It's my birthday!" Yes, kiddo, it is!
He had been talking and talking about the red droid he lost last year. I couldn't find it for anything so...I found this Lego set complete with a new red droid.
He had fashioned his own Emmet (star of The Lego Movie) out of a minifigure from a construction set. It wasn't the same but it was good enough. Then I found this Lego set which had the real Emmet AND Bad Cop. And a black and white police car. Well, yeah, he had to have it.
I was so proud of myself, thinking I'd lucked out finding G the perfect birthday card. Age specific (i.e. 6 years old) and all about being a young Jedi. Don't worry, your eyesight is fine, you are seeing double because our wonderful neighbors got him the same card! E and I just laughed.
G is a science minded boy. He loves to examine things and I thought maybe he'd get a kick out of a microscope. I was right. He immediately wanted to cut himself so he could check out both his white AND red blood cells. Haha. Aunty got him the prepared slides. Did you know how expensive those things are? They're very cool, don't get me wrong, but geeze.
I am not a cake eater. I'm not a half bad baker. But confection decorator? Uh, no. That's why I buy the frosting in a can. And this is what it ends up looking like. I hear it taste good but man that's not pretty. Good thing E loves me for my other skills.
When I'd asked G what he wanted to do for his birthday he said he didn't want a party, he just wanted his friends to come over and play. So that's what we set up, a play date complete with a wiener roast and birthday cupcakes. After we'd had a nice breakfast and G was hanging out outside with his dad the neighbor girls showed up. G was so excited. He loves those girls! They brought him a gift (super cool puzzle of the United States) even though we said it wasn't a birthday party and no gifts. The kids coming to play was gift enough for G. I invited a friend who is a boy but I think his mom must have forgotten the date because he never came. That's okay, the three of them had a blast just doin' what they do.
They just kept going and going and going. I wish I had even a tiny bit of their energy. They swam and ran around, etc. and then they'd take a break and go jump on the trampoline or drive Lightning McQueen until his rear wheel fell off. Then they'd get back in the water, etc.
And for your viewing pleasure, the live action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S6Drsy7oM4
What's a playdate amongst kids without some kind of fight over a toy? There were two rings and one "surfboard" and three kids. So they fought over the rings.
Remember all those balloons from before? We put them in the trampoline. The kids would jump as high as they could to try to make the balloons bounce out over the top of the next. And I'd run around capturing the escaped balloons and putting them back in with the kids. They thought that was hilarious. It got old fast for me.
We had built a fire in the firepit so that we could roast hot dogs for lunch. Yummo! I made some Kool-Aid and the kids went to town. We sang Happy Birthday and in typical G fashion, as he always does, he ran away screaming. He's never liked having HB sung (sang?) to him. I laugh but when he did come back over I smooshed his cupcake into his face. The girls and I thought it was funny.
I wish I could explain to you how much I love this child.
During a break from their normal activity one of them found a mouse. It didn't get away and I suspected that maybe it was dying as it'd been found near the garage where we have D-Con. The three of them did all sorts of stuff with that mouse, even naming him (Mousey, naturally). They took him for a drive in Lightning, they fed him some corn, they tried to get him to climb a tree, etc. Until Mousey died. And what did these three raised by outdoorsmen children do with Mousey when he died? They threw his little body in the firepit. Sounds strange/morbid, etc. but to them there's no tears, animals dying is just nature and you dispose of them in the most efficient way as you can.
They moved on from Mousey and dug into some cupcakin'. C is 4.
A is 6. She's a few months older than G.
A took her cupcake into the trampoline. Lo and behold she dropped it and of course it hit the floor frosting side down. You'd think G and C would help her out, right? No way, C grabbed the biggest chunk of the cupcake she could and she took off, shoving it in her mouth. G? Well he just licked the frosting right off the trampoline floor. A burst into end of the world tears and I got her another cupcake.
Since they'd spent all that time jumping in the cupcake polluted trampoline they were all frosted up and sticky so back into the pool they went.
E tried to keep the grass out of the pool as best he can but it was a losing battle.
And one more video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm-0AVLrNHc
G is trying to dunk A and C is raking her fingers down G's back to defend her sister. Oy. This was about three hours into their play date. Now I know what our time limit is?
I snapped this right after the girls blew him a kiss goodbye. At two points in the day G had yelled at the top of his lungs, "BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!" I was so glad we could make it happen for him. It was simple, nothing fussy whatsoever. No great and clever Pinterest ideas. No goody bags, no pony rides, just playing. Perfect for a 6 year old boy.
I told E since I bought the Lego sets he had to put them together. I figured they'd do one. They did both of them. Poor E's eyes were crossed after about three hours of Lego building. Since the neighbor dogs were staying at our house for a few nights E & G stayed outside and hung out with them (five dogs in my house = mommy can't breathe) and built their Lego's.
I don't know what it is about this boy and Lego's but man oh dear he loves those things.
"Uncle" Ron & "Aunt" Ruth (neighbors) bought him a Razor scooter. I tried it out, that thing is dang fast!
Nana sent him a basketball hoop for his birthday. It came a few days ahead and even though he was told it was a birthday present and he wasn't to open it until his birthday, he took the opportunity when I was distracted a day later. He came in and said, "Mommy I have to tell you I know it's a basketball hoop from Nana." Well damnit, child! So he got a lecture (because I am good at those) and then daddy put it together. And he's been playing basketball several times a day (for minutes at a time) ever since. Great gift, Nana!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eV8ckpJULWs&feature=youtu.be
We haven't changed much but that boy has sure grown up.
