I think that this has been the most anticipated birthday in the history of the Duede family. Carl has been dreaming and talking and planning for his 5th birthday all summer long. He was relatively gracious about my many amendments to his grandiose schemes and I think that he had a pretty good day in the end. I take it as a good sign that he prays almost daily: "Thank you that I am five."
This is what we did to celebrate:
1. First thing in the morning, he opened a couple of presents. There was new chalk from his dad and a new bike from Grandma Berg. (I was very grateful to finally get that bike out of my storage unit where it has been hiding for the past two months.) Carl got up on the bike and whizzed along the driveway. He told me, "I could ride this bike all day!" Then I taught him how to use his new bike lock, which has a word combination. He promptly taught Soren to do it for him and I'm not sure he has unlatched it himself ever since then.
2. Soren had bought a game at DI a few days previously, which he decided that morning was a birthday present for Carl. He wrapped it up himself and presented it with pride. The game did not include any rules (as it was used) and so the two of them made up their own. They played on the rug in the living room for awhile until Carl got bored; he felt that the game involved too much of Soren calculating scores.
3. We made cupcakes, inspired by the cupcakes he had at a neighbor boy's birthday party last month. He specified that they should have blue frosting, sprinkles, and Swedish fish on top. So, after making and frosting the cupcakes, I let him sprinkle and be-fish them. Then we drove to meet up with our neighbors at the Children's museum, where we ate said cupcakes and then played for a good two hours.
3. Since the Children's museum is close to Scott's work, we met up for lunch. We used my birthday coupon to go to Tucano's where we all ate but paid for only one meal! (Kids under seven are free! Cool!) Soren and Carl are such big boys, they went to the buffet and filled up their plates all by themselves. For some reason, that was a big deal to me. After the food, the servers came and sang Happy Birthday to Carl in Brazilian. He was not as pleased as I thought he would be; he looked decidedly uncomfortable.
4. Here you can see the rainbow silk that I gave Carl as a birthday present. He was pretty pleased with it. He told me that it was softer than our other silks. I don't think that's true but I was glad he liked it. He told me that he could use it to be a rainbow superhero.
5. Some friends from the ward came over to play after naptime. Carl's bike was the envy of the group and everyone took turns riding it. We shared blue cupcakes with them, too.
6. I made Carl's favorite for dinner: orange chicken. This is a favorite of everyone!
7. After dinner, I told Carl the birthday story. This is the first time that I have been brave enough to do it in front of anyone else, even Scott. But I think that Carl really enjoyed everyone listening attentively to a story about him. During the part about what he learned each year, I tried to focus on a different aspect of his personality. I talked about how social he was as a 1-year-old, learning to walk for hugs and learning to talk in clear, complete sentences by the time he went to nursery. I talked about how creative he was as a 2-year-old, how he loved to play pretend, draw, and sing. I talked about how strong he was as a 3-year-old, how he learned to ride a bike. I talked about how brave he was as a 4-year-old, how he was excited to persevere through hard things and how he learned to swim even though going under the water was scary. I told him that we were all excited to see how he grew and changed as a 5-year-old.
8. Then there was a big cake. He made a secret wish and blew out all the candles (although it took two blows).
9. His birthday extended beyond August 20th. In this picture, you can see how excited he was when the legos he ordered with Nan's gift card came in the mail:
This is what we did to celebrate:1. First thing in the morning, he opened a couple of presents. There was new chalk from his dad and a new bike from Grandma Berg. (I was very grateful to finally get that bike out of my storage unit where it has been hiding for the past two months.) Carl got up on the bike and whizzed along the driveway. He told me, "I could ride this bike all day!" Then I taught him how to use his new bike lock, which has a word combination. He promptly taught Soren to do it for him and I'm not sure he has unlatched it himself ever since then.
2. Soren had bought a game at DI a few days previously, which he decided that morning was a birthday present for Carl. He wrapped it up himself and presented it with pride. The game did not include any rules (as it was used) and so the two of them made up their own. They played on the rug in the living room for awhile until Carl got bored; he felt that the game involved too much of Soren calculating scores.3. We made cupcakes, inspired by the cupcakes he had at a neighbor boy's birthday party last month. He specified that they should have blue frosting, sprinkles, and Swedish fish on top. So, after making and frosting the cupcakes, I let him sprinkle and be-fish them. Then we drove to meet up with our neighbors at the Children's museum, where we ate said cupcakes and then played for a good two hours.
4. Here you can see the rainbow silk that I gave Carl as a birthday present. He was pretty pleased with it. He told me that it was softer than our other silks. I don't think that's true but I was glad he liked it. He told me that he could use it to be a rainbow superhero.5. Some friends from the ward came over to play after naptime. Carl's bike was the envy of the group and everyone took turns riding it. We shared blue cupcakes with them, too.
6. I made Carl's favorite for dinner: orange chicken. This is a favorite of everyone!
8. Then there was a big cake. He made a secret wish and blew out all the candles (although it took two blows).
9. His birthday extended beyond August 20th. In this picture, you can see how excited he was when the legos he ordered with Nan's gift card came in the mail:
Comments
love, Nan and Poppy