Little Man's birthday

      As I wrote about the other kids birthdays, I realized that I had never blogged about Little Man's big day which was way back at the end of May. Although I try not to play the pregnancy card too much, I'm going to blame it on this one.  June was pretty much a survival month for me.   A lot of things that needed to get done didn't, let alone the extras (like blogging).  

      So without further ado, presenting our biggest boy's seventh birthday...

The Sunday before his actual birthday we invited all family in the area over for home made ice cream cake.  I had never made one before and used a recipe from a friend.  It was super easy, very yummy and a hit with everyone especially the birthday boy.  

On his actual birthday he woke up to a decorated table and cereal of his choice.  

Kiwi, Mason and I joined him in his classroom for lunch.  He gets to buy one day a week and this week corn dogs (blech!) happened to fall on his birthday, so he was pretty happy.   I let Kiwi buy also, which was fun for her and fun for Little Man because he got to show her what to do.  We also brought in donuts for the class which he got to pass out.  It was another classmates birthday that day and she brought in cupcakes, so all the kids were nice and sugared up by the time lunch was over.

 

Little Man's class sang to him and he had his brother and sister come up to.  During the song, his teacher turned on some sort of disco ball/light thing and my older kids found the dancing lights on the back of Mason's head hilarious.

That night he opened presents from us and we went to (of course) Red Robin.  He loves these helmets and has them on display in his room.  He checks the standings faithfully and moves the helmets accordingly.  He's his daddy's little boy...

Being sung to at Red Robin.  

 Mason enjoyed some fry and ketchup action.

He wanted a "night at the movies" theme for his party.  We made the invitations look like movie tickets and asked each guest to come dressed up like a movie/T.V. character.  Little Man punched their tickets at the door.  We then played Disney character charades, had pizza, and watched Cars 2 with a "concession stand" (we didn't actually charge anything of course, although a couple of the kids were a little concerned when they saw the poster).  It was a lot of fun, but we learned a couple of things.  One, six and seven year girls are much better at sitting through a movie then six and seven year old boys.   We had a couple guests who kept disappearing and I had to go find where they were.   Having a free for all candy bar for first graders (boys and girls) may not be the best idea.  We told them to not take too much, but I saw some pretty full bowls of candy and I'm afraid some of our party goers may have went home with a tummy ache.  

The ticket puncher (the star trophies in the background were the party favors).

 Tinkerbelle, Barbie, an athlete, a storm trooper, Brave, a Ninja, a cute little boy from school who I never figured out exactly what he was dressed up like, a pirate, and a princess.

Little Man dressed as Jack Sparrow.  Although he's never actually seen the movie, he likes pirates and when my sister in law scored this costume for just a 1.00 at a garage sale the week before, he knew that's what he wanted to dress up like for his party.

Our boy at seven (and now almost four months):

*He's a rule follower.  He does well when he knows the expectations and has a hard time when other people don't follow the rules.  We were recently at a birthday party where all the kids were given a balloon at the end.  You were supposed to wait sitting down for your balloon, but most kids just jumped up and started grabbing for and requesting the color they wanted. Little Man and Kiwi waited and of course by the time they got to him his favorite color was gone.  This caused him to burst into tears, but I think it was more that he was frustrated about the lack of following rules, then the actual color.  He wants everything to be "fair" and is still working on the concept that expectations are not always the same of everyone (ex:  he is older than Kiwi, so he can do harder chores, etc).  

*He LOVES sports.  Any sport.  Watching them, playing them, learning about them.  He has tried soccer, basketball, t-ball, and track and loved them all.  He will sit and watch any kind of game with Mike and wants to know every players name.  He has a book of 2010-2011 Sports Highlights which he chooses most nights as his bedtime story and sleeps with so he can go to sleep looking at it.

*He also loves maps (sometimes a mini Atlas book ends up in his bed also).  If we are ever somewhere that you can get a map (ex:  zoo) he needs one.  He will navigate while we are there, look at it when we get home, and then put it in his special drawer in his room with his "map collection."  He is always asking us about where different states and countries are located.  There's nothing like being quizzed on Geography while you drive?. "Mom, where's Ohio?  What state is above it?  Below it?  Beside it?"

*His favorite subject is school is math.

*He is full of energy, questions, and ideas from morning until night.  He has an amazing imagination and will create a game out of something as simple as a food wrapper.  He and Kiwi have an entire world made up of their stuffed animals.  They all have names, families, and personalities.

*He has a tender heart and hates to see anybody sad.  He loves life and generally has a good attitude about things.  He adds so much to our family and is growing up way too fast!