Noah's 6th birthday party

Noah had his birthday party at the gymnastics place he and Elliot used to take classes. It is a really fun/big gymnasium.  The kids had a great time!  Each party has their own party coaches (somehow they managed to have 5 or 6 bday parties going on all at once).  The party coach takes the kids out and parents aren't allowed on the floor.  The coach led them through several stations and things to do.  Paul and I were given bracelets and allowed to come on the floor to take pictures.  Then we had a half an hour in a party room to eat cake.

We didn't have time to open presents, so we did that at home.  Noah was excited to play with all his new toys this week and has been writing one or two thank you notes a night to all his friends.

Finn and Hudson carpooled with us.  These kids were ready to party!

Noah's 6th Birthday

Noah turned six this week!  We started out with singing Happy Birthday and opening his present from us first.

 

Noah's birthday was on a Tuesday, and he wasn't very enthused about having to go to school on his birthday.  I promised him it would be fun to get to celebrate at school.  He got to bring Twinkies for a birthday treat.  The school has adopted a new policy that we have to buy store made treats and snacks due to kids that have peanut and other food allergies.  Noah had never had Twinkies and kind of turned up his nose at them in the car.  Needless to say, once he had it, he loved them - as did his whole class.  Twinkies were a huge hit!  

When we first got to school, Mrs. Pease put this birthday crown on him.  Noah said he wore it all day, even to lunch and specials.  He said school was awesome, because it was his birthday :)

After school I made spaghetti, twice baked cauliflower and pumpkin pie.  Grandma Anita and Grandpa Rick came over and got Noah a nerf gun and Pogo Stick.  The Pogo Stick was a HUGE hit.  He got the hang of it pretty fast.  When Grandparents left he was up to 12 in a row.  By bedtime he was up to 33 in a row.  He called Grandpa Rick every time he broke his record.

nice dismount

Yesterday after school, Noah got right on his pogo stick and hopped to the neighbors house to show it off.  He broke his record and got to 39 jumps in a row and called to tell Grandpa.  He told him when he gets to 50 he'd buy him some candy.  Noah got SO SERIOUS after that.  Within a couple minutes he got 89 in a row.  This kid is on fire with the pogo stick :)

It was a happy 6th birthday for Noah.  At home and at school.

Here are some pictures from the past 6 years.  It's amazing how much he's grown and changed in what seems like such a short time.  Mom and Dad love you, Noah!

Newborn baby boy

6 months

One year

Raiding the pantry

Two years

Two and a half - big bro!

Soccer debut at age 3

Classic - almost 3

4 years - sledding on suicide hill

Five and a half

The skinny on Noah:
48" and 57 lbs.
Fave sport: soccer & swimming
Fave vacation: Climbing mountains in Colorado, beach is a very close 2nd
Fave toys: Legos (and he is really good at them!)
Fave book: Calvin & Hobbes & his National Geographic Almanac
Into: Space, U.S. Geography (knows all his states and lots of facts about them)
Fave food: sub sandwiches, mac & cheese, pizza
What makes us so proud:  Besides being so smart and handsome and strong, Noah is very kind to everyone.  He is also super responsible at school and his teacher reports he is always doing what he is supposed to be doing.  He's a conscientious and an excellent student.

Star of the Week

Being in Pre-K is pretty fun stuff.  Every kid gets a turn at being the Star of the Week, coinciding with their birthday.  Noah's birthday fell on Sunday, so the following week was his week at school.  The day before at his party, Sarah, Sam and I  worked on his poster helped Noah with his poster for school.  I stayed up late Sunday night baking cupcakes.  Monday Noah got to present his poster to his class.  Oh how I wish I could have seen him do this :)  His friends had a chance to ask him questions.  All I got out of it was that a lot of people liked his basketball picture and the picture of him underwater swimming.  Everyone enjoyed the cupcakes and Noah informed me, that he got to take the first bite since it was his birthday :)

Tuesday, I got to read his favorite book to his class.  Noah settled on the book, There is a Bird on Your Head by Mo Willems.  This is a really funny book, so it was a good choice.  The expressions of the characters make it so funny, so I was worried about all the kids seeing the pics and reading it in an entertaining way.  Yes, I'll admit it.  I was nervous reading to a classroom full of 4 and 5 year olds - haha!  But, it was SO FUN!  The second I walked in, Noah lit up and was so happy to see me.  I was immediately surrounded by kids.  It was picture day and all the girls were excited about their new shoes, hair bows, etc.  I successfully made the kids crack up when reading the book.  Then Miss Mary gave me another book to read to them.

Noah got to present his poster to his class again on Tuesday, because the majority of kids go on Tues/Wed/Thurs.  Monday is a smaller class day.  I managed to snap a couple pics on my phone before leaving.

Noah with his friend, Murray and his poster.

Noah's awesome poster

Happy Birthday, son.

Dear Noah,

Happy birthday. You’ve been in our hearts for five years now. You entered into this world full force, crying nonstop when you were born, refusing to sleep, and you’ve not slowed down since. You walked at 8 months, scaled and tiptoed along our narrow rock retaining wall at one, rode a bike with training wheels at two, and without at three. Before you turned four, you swam across a 40-yard pool without stopping.

You’ve climbed boulders in Colorado, played in creeks and stomped through a myriad of puddles. You are easily the fastest kid your age we’ve encountered, and taller than most. Given all this, it’s sometimes easy to forget how young you are. One day, when you were still three, we were complaining about how cranky you were, forgetting we took a bike ride that morning that was nearly six miles. And you pedaled the entire way.

While you have all these raw physical skills, you’re only competitive with yourself. To watch you create one of your “inventions”, and proudly show it off, we can see that your mind works in a creative fashion. When you don’t accomplish what you set out to, we can see the dark clouds move in. You get frustrated and stubborn, refusing help for whatever it is you may be working on. You didn’t talk until you were two, but you learned your alphabet, your numbers and even how to spell a little shortly after. You have one volume - loud. I can tell you to whisper a thousand times, and you whisper, “OK” in acknowledgment, but it lasts no more than a few seconds.

To make you stop at the end of the day, we literally have to lay down with you and make you quit moving long enough to fall asleep. And it never lasts long. Your younger brother will lay in bed for a half hour after he wakes up, talking to himself and lounging around until someone gets him. With you, all we hear is a yawn on the monitor as you first open your eyes, seconds later followed by the hard thump of you jumping out of bed onto the wooden floor to start a new day. One morning, well before it was light outside, I asked you why you were getting up so early. You replied, “Because I’m bored of sleeping.”

I’m tempted someday to throw out my watch and plans, and see just how far you’ll go before stopping on your own. In five years, I’ve never seen it happen, unless you count falling asleep in your high chair during dinner.

Your full steam approach to life is going to create some challenges as we try to properly channel your personality. It will be someone’s full time job to keep you engaged. You love friends, but like me, you make them cautiously and hold them fast. You love your brother, especially when you’re apart, and you’re very protective of him when other kids are around, but my God you can be a pain in his ass when it’s just the two of you. You love your mom and dad, and even though you’re mostly reluctant to give hugs, you surprise us with “I love you’s” out of the blue, hugs that we weren’t expecting, or even more frequently, flowers that you picked for us. Likely out of someone’s garden or a business’s landscaping. You are empathetic towards others; you’re extremely kind to babies and younger kids, and take good care of them.

You know it all, even at this age, and you’re quite defiant at times. You will die on the hill for what you feel is right. If we give you two choices, you will most likely counter with choice number three, and even faced with an ultimatum of “no stories, and immediate bedtime” or some similar consequence, you will cling stubbornly to the unavailable choice.

Your full-on belly laugh is as infectious as any I’ve ever heard, and just hearing it makes us smile, even if it’s because you’re doing something you shouldn’t. You’ve had this same laugh from the time you were a baby, and it hasn’t changed a bit. I watched a video of you laughing at three months old, and it sounds exactly the same as listening to you laugh today. You love to make us laugh.

You inherited your mom’s beauty, intelligence and sweet tooth, and my short temper, perfectionism and reticence. Because we are so alike, we butt heads more often than I would like, and it takes me remembering that in order to de-escalate these situations.

You are one of the bright lights of our lives, and while some days it seems to have taken forever to get here, mostly time seems to be rushing by at a speed beyond our control. Given all you’ve accomplished in the first five years, we’re excited to see what you will do the next five.

Love,

Mom and Dad

Welcoming Elliot home

Riding his first bike.  At 2 1/2