Peter's Sixth Birthday

Peter had a birthday last week, and he's six! It's not all that hard for me to process this birthday, because he's been "almost six" for so long. He's also been ready for kindergarten for for-ev-er. Peter is such a delightful, exuberant kid, and he has a strong desire to do what is right. 

I wasn't too worried about him starting kindergarten this year. I thought he might act out if he ever got bored, but apparently he's one of the very best behaved kids in the class. I hoped to be able to have a little friend party for him (I still might, just late), but I'm not sure who we'd have over. He's the kind of kid that takes a while to warm up to people, and he's just now starting to talk about his new friend Jeff. So we might do something fun with a smaller group. 

Peter is a storyteller with a fantastic imagination. Here, he was telling me all about the rides he'd just been on with Dad at Disney World. Obviously, it required a big demonstration!

He is always making forts or other giant messes. :)

I found a snow cone machine at Target a few weeks ago exactly like the one I had growing up. I decided to get it for Peter's birthday, and he seemed to like it. He is the most set about what he's going to be when he grows up out of all my kids. The others will change their minds frequently, but he's consistently said (for well over a year now) that he wants to be a chef. Whenever we go out to eat, he is analyzing their process and atmosphere and food and thinking about what his is going to be like. He also loves making food with me in the kitchen.

I also got him a canister full of two-piece Legos from the Lego Store at a nearby mall. Nora helped me pack them in, and I think we really got our money's worth! ;) These are probably the most versatile pieces, and so great for a creative kid.

When the guy at the Lego store found out it was for my son's birthday, he gave us a free pack of "birthday cake" Legos. Peter built that one right away!

Peter wanted a cake with a green and yellow striped snake. He even drew me a picture of what he wanted. After some thought on how to approach this challenge, I found a recipe for marshmallow fondant (which, as it turns out is pretty good!) and made his dreams come true. (Glad I could do that once this year! I'm thinking back to Nora's sad ice cream cake the day after we got back from our trip, and Benjamin's cupcake "8" we had the week before our move. And I don't even have any pictures of that one.) It was way more simple than I thought it would be, so it might just inspire future creations...

Peter requested spaghetti and meatballs, a spinach and cucumber salad, and Orangina for his birthday dinner. He's easy to please!

It is a little crazy that he has to use TWO hands now to tell his age. He's a big boy now!

I had to include his costume that he came up with for Halloween. I told the kids that we were going to try to use what we had, and maybe make a few simple things for our costumes this year. He wanted to be a gnome so he can go around and say "give me a treat or I'll do mischief in your garden." :)

Probably his favorite present was a new sketchbook and markers (thanks, Grandma!). He's already filled many of the pages with elaborate drawings of bridges...

...and castles in the clouds...

...and "mean old" giants.

We sure love having Peter in our family. It would be pretty boring around here without him!