The 6th Birthday Celebration

My parents made the three hour drive to visit us for Alex's celebration.  We were worried the weather would keep them from coming but luckily the roads didn't get too bad. 

My sister and her family also came (across town) to join us.  My mom and sister always end up helping me out with the cake.  I think it has become tradition :)

Alex was completely enthralled by my sister icing his cake. 

Cherry (boxed) cake and cherry (canned) frosting - I was lazy mom and didn't make from scratch.  Since everything was pink, we added some orange food coloring to try to "boy it up" a little.

Alex with his brothers and cousins.

If you know Alex at all you know he just can't resist making a face for the camera.

Biju, Dad and BIL Carrick watched some basketball while Mom, Shelly and I chit chatted and the cousins played.

On Sunday, after church but before my parents drove back home, Alex roped Nana into playing a game of Skip-Bo.  I guess it was similar enough to UNO for him to understand the rules.

Ajay and Papa

Alex with Nana and Papa and the fishing tackle box they gave him for his birthday.

Alex turned 6!

....a month ago!  Last month I got all caught up and current on the blog and I told myself I would STAY current but here I am, catching up the month of February.  SmackMyHead.

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We now have a 6 year old in our house!  But then Alex has always seemed a year older than he really is, to me.  He has such amazing energy and a loving heart.  Biju and I have always agreed that he is one smart cookie and now we have his kindergarten teacher agreeing with us as well!

On the morning of Alex's birthday he walked out of his bedroom and into a big pile balloons.

There were 49 balloons piled up in front of his bedroom door.  The 50th balloon had a hole in it and would air up, but I don't think it was missed.

 The boys loved having all these balloons to play with!  Although, as you can probably guess, there was a lot of popping throughout the day.  Not on purpose, just getting too rough, or tying them too tightly to another balloon, or sitting on them.....

Alex found this crown he'd made months ago.  Then he and Ajay tied the balloons together to make "seats" (or thrones, I think!)

Looks comfy to me!

The night of Alex's birthday was pretty low key.  We took the boys out to dinner then came home for some ice cream.  (They'd already had cupcakes for an after school snack that day.)

Happy Birthday, Alex!

Make a wish !

Aren was convinced he needed a candle and a song, too, so we indulged him.

 There were also a few gifts involved, wrapped up in a reused Eddie Bauer bag.  We go all out around here.  (Alex was so concerned the whole day that the balloons were his present and that he wasn't getting anything else!) (I guess Ajay was standing too far off to the side, as he isn't in these photos.)

Lemonheads!

Rubix Cube!

Walkie Talkies were also received with gusto before he delved back into his ice cream.

We had more celebrations on the next day - let's see if I can get around to posting them before another month goes by!