And Then He Was Six

We celebrated Carter's sixth birthday a few days ago!  The night before his birthday I decorated his bedroom door on a whim with some stuff I had on hand to surprise him when he woke up.  All four of the kids liked it enough that I think this may have to become a tradition.  (I tried to take the decorations down at bedtime on his birthday, but Carter insisted that we leave them up until January 18th. Well ... OK then.)

One of the things I love about our charter school is that the kids aren't allowed to bring treats on their birthdays.  Instead, we get to go into the classroom and spotlight the birthday child, and read a story to the class.  Carter's teacher told me, "Why don't you tell us some things about Carter?" and a boy raised his hand and said, "I know something about Carter: he's funny!"  Well, that was all the encouragement Carter needed.  He launched into what seemed like a five-minute slapstick routine wherein he would hit himself in the head, stick his tongue out and roll his eyes up into his head, and collapse spread-eagle on the floor.  The kids were howling and demanded that he do it over and over again.  Carter totally ate it up.  I was finally able to wrestle the kids' attention back and we read the book Carter got for Christmas this year:  "Who Wants a Cheap Rhinoceros?"  by Shel Silverstein.  

I always have the best intentions of having Carter's birthday party planning underway before Christmas, but the hustle and bustle of the season means that I never actually do it.  So it was to my great relief when, on December 26th, Carter informed me that he wanted to have his birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese.  Hallelujah - party planned.  The only hitch was that he wanted to have a Sonic the Hedgehog theme.  Guess which stores sell Sonic the Hedgehog party supplies?  Yeah, none of them.  So we had to make everything from scratch, but I think they actually turned out pretty OK.

The invitations:

The token bags (for arcade games) and party favors:

Carter only wanted cupcakes at his party, but I made him let me bake a little 6" cake so we could have something to put candles in.  This was my first dive into the world of fondant figurines, but I think it turned out alright.  I'll probably try fondant again sometime after I've forgotten how long this little guy took.

I didn't take any pictures at the party.  Lame.  As seems to always be the case, the week leading up the party was one of the busiest of my life, so by the time the party rolled around it was all I could do to sit at our table with my eyes open to guard our stuff.  Luckily my mom took some video of Carter blowing out his candles.

He's Six from Kate on Vimeo.

Did you notice how Carter looked away the second he blew out his candles?  He was totally entranced by Chuck E. Cheese himself, who was leading some cheers at a party for some girl whose parents forked out the cash for an official Chuck E. Cheese party.  Poor Carter.

Anyway,  in honor of his sixth birthday, here in no particular order are my six favorite things about Carter:

1. The kid really is hilarious.  He's sarcastic and quirky and smart, which in my book is the very best combination of things to be.
2. He's an analytical and careful thinker like his dad.  Carter loves games and puzzles and will stick with them until he figures them out, which he always does.
3. He's honest.  You always know exactly where you stand with Carter.
4. He's so loving.  I always think of boys as gruff and macho, but Carter isn't afraid to show affection.  He loves his family very much.
5. He's exuberant.  Carter has the biggest, most infectious laugh and the greatest smile ever.
6. His airplane crash story (to this day, this video remains my all-time favorite of our home movies).

So, happy sixth birthday Carter!  We love you so much.