birthday review (unabridged)

last night as i put nash to bed i asked him if he had a good birthday. "it was a great birthday," he said, "i want more presents." hmmm...we'll need to work on that. it all started on thursday when he received his first presents in the mail. a special card and balloon (and a check for the bank account) from grape grandma. and a play drill from emery & sage. he didn't put it down all day and slept with it that night.

friday was movie day. emmy, haven, mama, and nash went to see planet 51. haven was enthralled for the first half hour, whether by the movie or the popcorn, i can't say. after that she got a little bored and started moving around. i gave up and let her crawl up and down the stairs where she finally made herself a bed with her blankie and watched the rest of the movie. nash was hilarious, making audible comments, gasps and screams throughout the movie. my favorite; 'whoa, he just bonked!"

after the movie we had naps & quiet time, then headed out for birthday photos. we started with six balloons and after about 20 minutes of shooting we were down to two. it was so windy the balloons went sideways. and then nash had to pee. game over.



saturday was prep day. buying and wrapping gifts (in blue and green). and baking cupcakes. emmy and i created a new cupcake recipe (it still needs a little work) and nash helped. he loves chocolate as much as i do:



nash also got a much-anticipated delivery from the mailman. a present sent all the way from pennsylvania on an airplane from "your mom" ("your mom" is my mom. that's how he sorts out the grandmas right now). he got a plane and a gas station to match his tractor and wagon. (he also got a curious george tea set while they were here a few weeks ago. he found it hidden behind my mom's bed and said "oh, is this for me?". surprise over. he's been making wet messes all over the house ever since.)

and then it was sunday. the real birthday. nash woke up before the rest of us eliminating the possibility of breakfast in bed. he chose pancakes with chocolate chunks. there were two yolks in the egg, so we knew it was going to be a good day. nash ate one pancake. the rest of us had none. so i was left with a perfectly good stack of scratch chocolate chunk pancakes. what else to do? i took pictures.



we watched a favorite dora: "who's birthday is it?" and ate pizza for lunch. at lunch i asked nash if he was having a good birthday so far and he said "it's at grandma's house." which is where we went next-to get the party started by playing with the cousins (a happier boy you've never seen than nash when playing with his cousins).

cupcakes were frosted & decorated and approved by the birthday boy. dark chocolate chocolate chunk cupcakes with almond-vanilla cream cheese buttercream. yellow. and white. and green...and purple.



the cousins made banners (in yellow. and white. and green...and purple. complete with a "3" and sprinklers (see above banner by the wonderful libby lou, age 7. it was my favorite of the banners. don't get mad, chase, yours was super cool too!).



he sang himself the birthday song and blew out his candles one at a time (with a crazy dad in the background). and then came presents.



what he got: a super cool outfit from the cousins. an art box from aunt emmy-full of markers, play-doh, paints, paper, and scissors. two rad shirts, shoes, a snowman book, and blocks (as you can see from indie's face those blocks were pretty cool) from mom & dad. legos airplane kit (trio) from brr & peeps. and a new winter coat and remote control car from grandma ("grandpa helped too").

nash was exhausted from a long day of fun and fell asleep in the car as we drove home in the first real snow storm of the year. when we got home we read books (the birthday bugs and on the night you were born). nash said his prayers. and then we read the birthday bugs a few more times. then a little while later we played with blocks and read the new snowman book. and then we went to sleep. it was the best birthday ever.

the end (finally!).