Twelve Birthdays and a Clarinet

April Fool's Day 1999. I had my first baby. Worst birthing experience EVER. (My many thanks to the tree-hugging hospital in the middle of the California woods.) I held this cute little baby all warm and wet for the first time, and I cried. Oh how I cried....What an unbelievable little miracle! He was gorgeous! He was a part of me and he was MINE. I went into shock and then when the medication wore off, I cried some more. I of course recovered but as a mother it would many many years later before I had a good night's sleep again - but this love-of-my-life has been worth all of it. Those early years were happy times so bright and sunny living in California as a new mom. I miss those days, and miss that little boy who grew up way too fast.

I am learning to let go and let my children choose who they want to be instead of who I think they should be. It has become very clear to me this past year who this kid really is. And he is AMAZING.

He requested art supplies for his birthday and as an extra surprise we were able to give him a clarinet. He starts Junior High next Fall *gulp* and signed himself up for band. He was adamant about playing the clarinet. After talking with a friend of mine from HS who is a MUSIC WIZARD and ex-band teacher, I felt really good about him playing clarinet. My friend also talked me through some of the best brands to look for and what to avoid. As soon as I got off the phone I went to the classified ads on KSL and found this little Yamaha beauty for only $100. SOLD!  We later took it to a music shop for a tune-up. The guy tweaked a few keys and gave it back to us (free of charge) and told us it was a great instrument and that we got a great deal if we paid under $200 for it. SCORE! 

To say that my son was EXCITED when he opened this gift would be the understatement of the century.

Clarinet lessons start this week. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Minimum Wage *Whip-shaw*

He works hard for the money... ♪♫♪  So hard for it Honey... ♪♫♪

I'm proud of this picture. 

I am the ultimate Task-Master! Wha-haha.... 

Are all mother's as evil as me?

My Baby is 5

Guess who had a birthday last month? Shout hooray!
But wait...he's my BABY and he just turned 5!

Even at 5 he's an awfully big baby. I took this not-so-little guy to the doctor last week for his *gulp* Kindergarten check-up. The Doc says he's in the 100% percentile for his height! Huh? I didn't know that was really possible. I mean someone has to be the the tallest kid out of 100. So there he is. My son. He's also 95th percentile for weight. I stopped trying to pick up this kid a looooong time ago. (That's my little line-backer.)
Funny how his birthday always coincides with the Super Bowl.

So we had a Par-tay! A Spider Man part-tay! Some comic fans (but mostly little kids) would say he 's the coolest super-hero. But personally, I'd rather date Superman. (I've always had a thing for the tall dark and handsome, crippled-by-kryptonite-kind-of-guy.) What does this have to do with my son's birthday party? Nothing. Other than he'd make the cutest little Superman or Harry Potter for Halloween. What does HP have to do with anything? Nothing. Harry is just too young to have a crush on (creepy). But I {heart} those books!

So what have we learned: This not-so-little Soon-to-be Kindergartner turned 5 and he is a cutie with all that dark hair and dimples and tons of football playing/Superman potential. We've also learned that I really like dark hair. (I present the Postman as exhibit A.)

I made him a "Spidy" Birthday Cake
 with a whipped cream/cream cheese frosting. 

We played web-slinging games with sticky hands. A "Villain" walk. Pin the Spider on Spider-Man. Cake and ice cream and fruit punch. Opened presents. And drum roll please..... SILLY STRING! Whoa. SO MUCH FUN FOR A KID!!! This was the last thing we did and for obvious reasons, outdoors. It was a Web-slinging Birthday Blast!

And then...Chuck E. Cheese. This is how children punish parents. If if didn't have children I would never go there. They offer up expensive kid amusement first and fore-most then the food is someone near the very bottom - maybe below Chuck E. Cheese tattoos and filthy tokens. Did I try and talk him out of this after-party place to eat? Yes. Did he go for it? Obviously not.

Happy Birthday to my baby! 

*sniff* 

I could just love the pizza right out of him!

Have I mentioned yet, that my oldest is going into Jr. High next year?!? Good Grief! 

That will be a whole other post.