Birthday Madness

Once again we have kicked off that wonderful time of year where Garrett's birthday is followed quickly by Christmas, and the house is slowly engulfed by toys. On Thursday, Garrett turned 6 years old. Somehow, however, his birthday always manages to take up an entire week. First there was the large gift box that arrived from my in-laws on Tuesday evening. It contained not one, but TWO cap guns. Wow! Nothing like a loud, annoying toy to start off your day! Actually, it's not as loud as I expected, and Garrett was beyond excited. Using his new kindergarten vocabulary, he yelled "SWEET!!!!! This is what I always wanted!!! I am SO cool!" He promptly found his best "cowboy" shirt and jeans, and proceeded to terrorize the dog with loud popping sounds.

On Thursday we had a family party for him. First he opened a bag of Star Wars Legos from my parents. He has been dreaming of these Legos since this summer. He informed me a few weeks ago that the ONLY thing he wanted for his birthday was Legos, and just Legos. When he saw the 2 big sets my mom got him, his voice went several octaves higher with excitement! The very next present he opened was from Dave's grandmother. It was $50, only it was all in one-dollar bills. Garrett took one look at it, jumped up, waved it in the air and screamed "I'm rich!! I'm rich! I'm rocking rich!!"

On Friday, we had his "friend" party. We discovered that one of his best friends in his class had his birthday on December 5th, so we decided to combine their parties into one. So, we all drove out to Bodie's (his friend's) house for a "Star Wars" party. (notice the theme emerging?) The kids made spaceships out of paper plates and bowls, had an "asteroid" fight with balloons, and ate a cake decorated with marshmallow asteroids. They had a blast! Since it is so close to Christmas, we had each child bring a gift to exchange, and each kid got a gift to take home. It worked perfectly, and everyone was so excited!

Now that all the birthday madness is behind us, we can concentrate on Christmas. We put up the tree today and Paige kept asking if Santa was coming tonight. As usual, I am beginning to sweat with the realization that I have less than 3 weeks to do Christmas cards, wrap presents, buy the rest of the presents, and make all the little homemade things I always plan but never leave time for. Oh well, what's Christmas without a little stress? It's still a wonderful time of year, and I always look forward to celebrating Jesus' birth with friends and family!