Ain't no party like a birthday party, 'cause a birthday party don't stop.

Well, the boy is officially six years old.  I can't believe this.  It literally seems like only yesterday that he was a tiny, tiny baby.  Now he is a nonstop ball of energy that never stops talking and asking questions.  Weird, random questions that force me to turn to Google in search of the answers.  Questions like, "Do dogs get hiccups?" and "Exactly what vitamins are in bananas?" and my most recent favorite, "Why are henchmen called henchmen?"  The fun never stops around here.

I am this many.

 We always plan to just do something small for his birthday, and of course, it always escalates.  This year he had four separate celebrations - while they were all quite small, that's still ridiculous.  Maybe next year we can achieve having one party with everyone there.  Doubtful, but a girl can dream, right? 

We celebrated at Grandma and Grandpa's house with a fantastic pirate ship cake that Grandma made.  Note the cannon balls, pirate gold, and candle cannons on the side of the ship.

We also had the now traditional McDonald's dinner (clearly the choice of the birthday boy) and cake at home, as well as a small celebration at Grandma Lucille's.  Where he received another Pillow Pet.  God help me.  He's got three of those things now, because Grandma Marilyn bought one to live at her house.  The Pillow Pet people must be rolling in money in this point, much of it supplied by my family.  

For the little party with his friends, he wanted a train theme this year.  That turned out to be super easy: railroad crossing cake + engineer hats for the kids = train theme.  It's easy to please six year olds.

 

Getting ready to blow out candles

Adorable birthday guests

 It was a low-key celebration, with musical chairs and the ever-popular freeze dance. The kids (and the mommies!) get along well, so it was a good afternoon.  Poor Charles is usually at work when all the kids are over - he was a bit unprepared for the sheer volume of it all, and quickly retreated upstairs.

So another birthday has come and gone.  Next year he'll be seven, which I refuse to think about.  I'm going to enjoy my cuddly little kindergartner for as long as I can.