my 6 year old charmer

Last week, my sweet boy, Josh, turned 6.  The weekend before, we had a party for him with some of his classmates from school.  For the second year in a row, he asked for a Shark party.  {He's my ocean-lovin' boy.  I totally see him surfing someday.}

I didn't have a lot of time to plan his party.  {Well, I guess I knew 365 days in advance when his next bday would be.  I just totally spaced and forgot to work a party into the budget.  I sent out invitations less than a week before the party and had to come up with something he'd enjoy with only $20.  Ben was being generous finding that much to spare.  So I got creative.  Which, I guess, isn't that big of a stretch for me.  But still!}

Some of the games we've played before.  I cut out a shark-ish shape from blue posterboard, (the dollar store has them 2 for $1!) and we played Pin the Fin on the Shark.  We also bought some sheets of shark stickers and put them in balloons before blowing them up.  Then I handed out toothpicks and let the kids Bust the Balloons to get their prize.  One poor little guy had to leave the room.  He is NOT a fan of loud, balloon-popping noises.

I cut out a shark mouth from some foam board and hung it up in front of our fireplace.  We called this Feed the Shark.  The kids took turns throwing balls into the mouth.  This was probably the game the kids liked the most.  Being encouraged to throw things in the house?  Who wouldn't love that?!

For the cake, I arranged some cupcakes in the shape of a shark.  Well, shark-ish.  I also filled up some clear cups with blue jello and put a gummy shark in each for the kids to snack on too.  I didn't get a picture of it, and I wish I had because it was pretty cute.  Then I took the leftover gummies and had Josh arrange them around the cupcakes with some seashells and plastic plants that you put in fishtanks.

The dollar store (again) had a package of these paper fish-shapes in their school supplies section.  I hung them up from the ceiling fan.  When I turned the fan on low, it cast all this fun, shadowy movement around the room.  As if we were in an actual aquarium. 

Extreme closeup!!!  Yes, those are silver sprinkles (!!!)

My kids helped me come up with these cute goody bags for the party guests.  We cut off the tops of some Ziploc baggies and filled them with party blowers/noise-makers, stickers, fruit rollups, and a note from Josh thanking them for coming to his party.  Then we tied ribbon around the tops and the kids put stickers on the outside of the bags.  The shark protected them from being snatched up before the end of the party.  :)

This was another game we played.  Gillian called it Fishing for Fish.  I taped a line of twine to a stick and attached a clip to the end of the line.  I then taped a piece of candy onto the back sides of some more of those paper fish.  I crouched down on one side of our couch, and the kids lined up on the other side. They'd cast over the couch, and I'd attach a fish to their line.  So simple.  And so cute.

Arrr you having a fun birthday, Josh?

I think that smile says it all.  <3

He's been such a charmer recently.  Yesterday, I was drawn outside for my workout.  I just couldn't bring myself to go to the gym with all that warm, buttery sunshine calling my name.  So after I picked up Josh from school, we put Jack in the stroller and walked over to the library.  It's only a mile away, and of course we sloooowed way down once we got there so that we could browse all the books, but I still called it my workout for the day.  As a reward for walking with me, I let Josh get his very own library card.  He was so excited when he scanned it and "Welcome, Josh" popped up on the computer screen for him to check out his books. 

{He fell asleep last night still holding his library card.}

We collected fallen branches on the walk home and put them in a vase on our kitchen table to remind ourselves of our fun little outing.  As we were walking home, Josh was skipping behind me, stopping every once in a while to pick up just the right branch.  Out of nowhere, he says, "I'm happy."  He wasn't really telling me.  Just saying it because he felt it.  The best part of my day was hearing him say that.

Then today, as we were getting out of the car after picking Josh up from school, he saw me loaded up with jackets and his backpack and chicken costume. (Today, the students at his school got to dress up as cartoon characters.  He chose Chicken Little.  Gillian had me sew her a magician's hat yesterday because she wanted to dress up as Presto, the magician from the 80s cartoon, Dungeons and Dragons.  Seriously.)  I was trying to balance all this stuff and get Jack out of his carseat, and Josh came up and offered to carry all of his stuff inside.  He beamed when I told him that it was a very gentlemanly thing to do.

THEN, this afternoon, he told me that my diet is working because I seem 'straighter' to him.

Oh that boy.