My Favorite Five Year Old Turned Six!!

You know, I don't know where the time goes, seriously!  Some things seem to take a lifetime like waiting in line at the Sports Store for them to find a bar code for THE LAST SIZE 3 soccer ball in the store with a baby with a poopy diaper and three older cranky kids (one of which has just knocked over a display stand)...I kid you not!  But it appears that time goes at warp speed when you watch your children....these sweet spirits I have been entrusted with (what was Heavenly Father thinking?)....grow up before my eyes.  It is awe inspiring yet heartbreaking at the same time.  

Enough of the sap....on with the good stuff :0)

Tanner turned 6 in June and wanted to have a party.  Mind you, we had just had our entire house packed up so I am living on rental furniture, etc. for over a month, the kids have almost zero toys, it is not warm enough to swim, and I was just about at breaking point.  However, my soon to be six year old wants a party so, by golly, he will have one.

The whole theme was based on Perry the Platypus.  Tanner loves platypus.  I had ordered food and decided to hold it at the Country Club since we had no toys/games/etc.  All the food was ready to go and I had been planning this cake (see below) for months.  I had ordered all Perry the platypus themed treat bag items, all our games were based on this, etc.  I had flippin made a homemade pinata that took me over a week out of paper mache in the shape of a bomb.  I sent over 100$ worth of items to my brother's house so that Bryce could pick it up on a trip to the US that he took the week before the party.  I was organized and prepared.  

Yet the day before the party when Tanner went with me to Costco to pick up a few last items.  We walked by the cake aisle and my sweet boy says, "Mommy, I don't want a Perry party anymore.  I want that dinosaur cake (pointing in the cake display) and I want us to be dinosaur hunters."

UH....NO!

Needless to say, we still had the Perry party and he enjoyed it as much as a kid sick with 101 degree fever can be.  No JOKE!  Friday night, he complained that he had a sore throat and wasn't feeling well.  No fever at that point but not feeling well.  He had a horribly runny nose and ended up vomiting in the middle of the night from all the mucus.  The next morning, he still didn't feel well but no fever.  At that point, the thought of paying for all the food that we couldn't use, calling all of the parents of the boys, trying to find a day to reschedule (this was the weekend before we left Japan), was just too daunting to even consider.  So we did what any good, loving, concerned parents would do...we gave him a healthy dose of Tylenol, stuck the kid in the car, told him to fake a smile, and off we went to the party.

 (This was the ONLY smile we got from him that day!)

We made it through the party of 10 kindergartners (seriously, I will opt for a root canal next time) and got Tanner home.  I checked his temperature and yep, it was 101.  Monday morning we took him in to the doctor and it was strep throat.  Thankfully, we didn't hear about anyone else coming down with it.  We did find out that two other kids that were at the party actually ended up being somewhat sick that day already and ended up home from school the next week, too.

Oh well....I am glad we were able to celebrate Tanner's birthday even if he wasn't feeling top notch.  He is such a free spirit.  He brings life and energy (sometimes at spastic proportions) to our family.  He is active, wild, and crazy.  Anything with a ball and he's there.  He loves to torture his older brother and sister but is sweet as honey to his baby brother.  He loves to sing when he thinks no one else is listening.  Our favorite moment was when we were standing outside the bathroom and we hear, "I am a ROCKSTARRRRR.....".  Yes, buddy, you certainly are our star!