The Birthday Boy

Today my baby turned six!  I can't believe it has been six long years since I held him in my arms for the first time.  I cannot imagine my life without this little boy in it.  I love everything about him, even his love of gross humor and his penchant for going without a shirt and the way his feet get dirty every day no matter what.  He makes our lives brighter with his smile, his infectious laugh, his sweet hugs and his excitement when telling a story.  He is a typical boy in so many ways and I love that.  I love his little boy mannerisms, the way he can make any sound effect with his mouth, the way he loves ninjas, the way he kisses me goodnight.  He has captured our hearts and we treasure every day with him.  I know that sounds so cliche, but something about knowing that someday he will grow up and get married and probably forget to call his mama every day, or even every week, makes me hold him a little tighter.  I want to treasure those times he tells his sister he loves her (he did it today at breakfast) for no reason at all, and the time he just puts his arm around me while we are watching tv, or the way he sits next to his dad and imitates his pose.  I seriously want to remember all of it.  I'm a sentimental sap, what can I say...

I wanted to make his birthday special since we aren't having his party until this weekend.  So last night I hung up balloons in the main hallway of the house for him to see when he came downstairs (thanks, Pinterest!).  Then, his Grandmama invited us to breakfast at Bob Evans.  That was a real treat since we never do that.  He opened some presents there and then we came home and did some school.  He really wanted to skip school, but I'm a mean teacher and wouldn't let him. :)  Then after lunch, his cousin and best buddy came over to hang out and we baked cupcakes.  We let him pick where to go for dinner and he picked Culvers where he gorged himself on cheese curds til he almost got a stomach ache.  We headed over to Papa's house to drop off a cupcake and then we took my nephew home and delivered a cupcake to my sweet niece who was so sad she couldn't join us.  Whew!  It was a long day and after all that we had to come home and put together his Lego present that he got from us.  He had a blast.  I feel like we hardly even need a party with all the fun we already had, but don't let him read that!  He's super excited for his Lego party.  Oh, and yesterday he got a card in the mail with a $50 bill in it (Thanks, Uncle Don!).  I asked him what he wanted to do with it and he said, "SPEND IT!!".  Pretty sure we'll be headed out for some more Legos in the very near future.  So, I guess you could say he had a pretty awesome birthday. :)

I have some photos to share, but first I have to share this questionnaire I did with him this morning.  I totally stole this from some friends and modified it just a little.

~~Dean at Age 6~~
~What is your name?  Dean
~And how old are you? 6
~How does being 6 make you feel? Happy
~What do you want to learn this year? Science
~What was the best thing about being 5? Getting Legos
~What did you do today?  Played with my new Lego monster fighter and I'm going to dinner with my cousin, Ben.
~What is your favorite color? All of them except for pink and purple.
~What is your favorite food? Goldfish and Wheat Thins
~Who is your favorite person? My cousin Ben.
~What grade are you in? First
~What is your favorite thing to do at school?  Recess
~What is your favorite game to play? Chess
~What do you like to do with Daddy?  Play chess and football
~What do you like to do with Mommy? Cuddle her
~What do you like to do with Ava?  Play with her and do the Tango
~What’s your favorite thing to do with the whole family? Play Chinese Checkers (after I commented that we        never play that, he said, we did one time, in the old days). :)
~What’s your favorite store? Toys R Us
~What’s your favorite place to eat? Culvers
~What’s your favorite book? The Official Ninjago Guide
~What’s your favorite song? That radio song.  After much explanation and some clarification from Ava we realized he meant Hey Soul Sister by Train
~What’s your favorite thing about God? He loves us.
~What do you want to be when you grow up? A dad

I really wish I had been doing this survey for a few years...oh well, better late than never! I can't wait to see what he says next year. Now for some photos!

His balloon curtain. It got all tangled up, but oh well. This was before breakfast...it was a long day!

Excited!!

I took him outside for a few birthday photos.

My favorite. Love the light.

Had to put in a picture of him with his signature face. The frown. Love it!

At breakfast with Grandmama.

Waiting with his eyes closed for his present from his sister. It was a Lego Ninjago snake. She really wanted to buy him a present with her own money. What a sweet sister!

Back at home later that day (and shirtless, of course...) he had waited patiently for his daddy to get home from work to open his big present.

I'm super classy and we wrapped it in a Bob Evans bag... My mom had hidden the present at her house and then she brought it to breakfast in the Lego Store bag which was see through so we asked the restaurant for a bag. He totally didn't care that it wasn't wrapped and didn't want to wait for me to wrap it. Gotta love boys...they are so easy sometimes.

The Samurai! He was so excited.

This kid is obsessed with Legos.

Hey, a shot of him with his favorite person! :)

And because I'm obsessed with collages right now, I put together this one of him on every one of his birthdays including his actual birth day. Holy crap, make it slow down! I can't believe how big he is!!

Enough birthday overload for one day. We'll be doing it again this weekend!