The Birthday Boy & The "Moving" Party

A chaotic moving day (OK, the first of several "moving days" we're having here) prevented me from posting on my son's birthday, May 30th, when he turned 6 years old.

It doesn't feel quite right to celebrate the life of a beloved son when another mother (Katie Allison Granju) has just lost hers, but I think he deserves it.

He was born on a hot Sunday and his birthday fell on a Sunday this year too, hotter than that one back in 2004. I was unable to throw a party for him, but in the end, I think his day was funner than any party he could have had.

It definitely felt like a party. The two cousins had been here since the night before when the boys went to bed really late (and their parents, with the exception of BIL, who had driven for 7 hours that day, almost didn't go to bed -- K, D & I worked until 4 am) and on Sunday they went to "work" early, riding their bikes, playing on the swings, playing the Wii. Then the friends who were helping us load the truck started coming bringing along three boys and a teenage girl. They played lots (see above), but the day's highlight was this "train" or "roller-coaster" with the three office chairs going down the sloping driveway (BIL's idea). Check it out:

I ordered pizza for everyone (only the second time in my whole life I ordered pizza for a group of people at home -- the first was when we unloaded our things with church friends back in 2007) and after we ate (with lemonade), I went to the store and got a Carvel cake so we could sing happy birthday:

Later on, when most friends had left and one more family had come to help, we turned the sprinkler on for the boys to play (the plan was to fill up a plastic pool BIL had brought, but it was too late for that) and that's when the first photo of the post was taken. One more view of the birthday boy happily squinting in the late afternoon sun:I love you so much, baby, you're so precious (and you know it too!). I can't believe you're already six, my big boy, going to first grade! I hope you enjoyed your birthday!