Tyler Turns 6!

December 7, 2010

SIX! Can you believe that?! That means it takes 2 hands to show his age. How crazy is that?! It's always a little surreal to see my babies get another year older. And to think of all that has happened since I became a mom six years ago--it just seems crazy! So without further adieu, here is a little recap of the BIG 6th birthday!!

We started off with some birthday pancakes before school and we let Tyler open one present (we're mean and make our kids hold out until we party in the evening to open most of them!)

And the big present was a new bike/skating helmet. Tyler roller skates every Tuesday at school and his helmet was getting too small, so this was kind of on the 'needs' list as opposed to the wants list, but it all works out, right?! So he got to open it before school and his birthday happened to be on a Tuesday, so he took it with him to skate that day. He had a great day celebrating his birthday at school and took Rice Krispies treats to his class that day.

And he came home and patiently waited for the evening's events. We let him pick his favorite meal for dinner, which was homemade mac 'n cheese (known as 'fancy macaroni & cheese' at our house!). So after dinner, we finally got to the gifts and boy, was this kid excited! The picture above is of when he opened his Nerf gun from the Kirwans--can you say thrilled?!

He received several birthday phone calls and he opened the rest of his presents which included some Magformers from Grandma & Grandpa Thalgott, a new Leapster game, a few books, and last but not least a whole $20 bill from Grandma & Grandpa Andersen. He has never had a bill that big and he was in heaven! He was so thrilled with it (he literally always asks me if he can have a '20 dollar'--I'm not thinking I even knew $20 bills existed when I was six?!). The following day I walked in the room and found him kissing it...no joke! When I laughed he shrugged his shoulders and said "what?! It's just that I've never had a 20 dollar before and I just LOVE it." So, do I even want to know what this means?! :)

And then it was cake and ice cream, which he truthfully didn't have a whole lot of interest in eating--I mean, who would with all the new toys to play with?! But he sure looked pleased with it all!

I let him pick out what kind of ice cream to make for his birthday (a little something we've been doing lately), and I realize that making birthday ice cream is probably way funner than making birthday cake anyways! And it was so fun picking out a flavor with him. At first, he was insistent that we make mint chocolate chip...I mean, it is one of his favorites and it's green so it kills two birds with one stone! But then he said, "oh but wait, I want mint ice cream, but Oreos in it." So, of course, we were totally cool with that choice. But then...then we walked down the cookie aisle and he saw the peppermint candy cane Oreos and then his creation came to life. So we had peppermint candy cane ice cream with candy cane Oreos mixed in. It.was.delicious!!! I think Tyler's got good taste!

And the rest of the evening was spent shooting Nerf arrows throughout the house (6 of which we found in the Christmas tree on New Year's Day when we took it down!)

I sure do love my SIX year old boy! I cannot imagine life without him. He is a kind spirited kid with a good heart who tries his hardest to be good all the time. He is a great big brother and plays so well with Sam. They have become great buddies. He is learning by leaps and bounds in school and amazes me by how well he can read and write. He loved playing soccer again this year, loves playing with his friends at school, and recently mastered the art of tying his own shoes. :) He can be a very deep thinker and just the other day he asked me "Mom, so does the Lord really talk to us? Because I know they say He talks to us, but I mean, I don't know if he would really ever talk to ME. I don't like hear him or anything." So, of course this led to a deep conversation that definitely seemed crazy to be having with a 6 year old. But I love that about him! I love that he thinks things through and wants to understand all about everything.

And his big 'present' this year was a birthday party at the Bounce Spectrum. We don't do parties every year and especially not like this, but he has been dying to do this, so he didn't get many presents from us, but he did get a big party and it did seem worth its weight in gold when he was grinning from ear to ear and was so happy he could have burst. He LOVED it! (and of course, I only got a couple pictures!)

Happy Birthday Tyler! We sure love you around here!

And...drumroll please...THIS concludes all blogging for 2010!! Believe it or not, I pushed through and as of March 1, the year 2010 is in the books, folks! Phew! I feel so relieved! But of course I'm already behind on 2011. But I'll get there! But I am looking forward to posting things that are a little more current. :)