Alex is 6!

One day I'll blink and realize that I'm saying Alex is 16 instead of 6. Time is zooming by, at times in a blur. Today, Alex turned six years old! Holy buckets! This past year has been crazy and full of new things and big changes. As I've watched him grow for these six years it's been not only a blessing, but a privilege to be a stay-at-home mama for him. Once upon a time I couldn't imagine not having a job to go to every day of the week, but once I stared at his precious little face six years ago for the first time, I knew that I wouldn't be returning to the job world any time soon. And for this, I'm one thankful lady.

I still can't believe how big my baby boy has grown and how smart and wonderful of a son he is. This year for his birthday, Alex wanted something very special. He wanted to have boys at his birthday party. He has mostly girl cousins and the few boys in the family mostly aren't around him at all. So when he said he wanted to invite friends from school, I figured it was about time to give him his first real birthday party with the works. Games, cake, punch and friends ("I want boys at my party mom." says Alex). It was a bit crazy to plan as I've never invited anyone but family before, but it was a humungous hit! He had lots of little boys come and I don't think that there was a happier kid in the world that day.

Aunt Heather feeding the birthday boy to his shark.

The big shark birthday party with boys!

Alex's big, bad shark cake with the shark eating the candle.

Marshmallow fondant is pretty cool for what it's worth.

Look at the smile on my boy's face. :-)

Alex getting gifts from all his buddies.

Shark punch. I kid you not, Alex drank at least four cups. Not bad for koolaid and sprite. He had a blue mustache the entire day afterwards.

Hulk fists! Now he has two pairs so he can "fight" with Dad.

This is the box that was used for a game I made up called "Shark Bait." The kids had to crawl through it while the music was playing and when the music stopped, whoever was in the box was shark bait and out of the game. They loved it so much that they hardly wanted to stop!

My fancy homemade version of pin the tail on the donkey was Pin the Scuba Diver in the Shark's Mouth. Also a big hit. The kids had to wear blacked out goggles instead of a blindfold.

He wanted a shark themed birthday party. Strange...I know. But nevertheless, sharks are what he got. I whipped up some invitations and got them to all his little buddies. I made a few games, a shark birthday cake (naturally), blue ocean shark punch (blue koolaid and Sprite with toy sharks floating in it), and fun gift bags for each of his buddies (and him and Abby of course) for after the party. My boy was in seventh heaven on Saturday. I, of course, felt the stress and insanity that comes with hosting a party and have vowed to not do it again for awhile. Or at least until Abby is ready for a friend party. I had to leave my anti-social bubble for two hours, and had quite the crash after it was over, but it's all good. The stress and craziness of it all was completely worth it. The kids had an absolute blast and Alex is still talking about all the cool shark things I came up with. Today he officially celebrated his birthday at school with homemade football brownies. Then it's his dinner request of meatloaf and leftover birthday cake and soy-ice-cream for dessert. What a fantastic day! Happy birthday to my awesome son today. Six years ago my life changed for the better and I haven't looked back since.