for he's a jolly good fellow

Nicholas turned seven today. We have been celebrating all weekend. Actually, it started in Kansas City over Thanksgiving when my parents got him a couple of early birthday presents (Legos) and he brought another Lego set home with him, which he waited to open today (Legos). Last weekend, Greg's parents came down to celebrate his birthday with him since they were going to Dayton to visit Great Grandma this weekend. So we ordered dinner from Nicholas's favorite Hyde Park restaurant (Piccolo Mondo) and he got to open presents from them (Legos, Legos, and a few other things, including another set of Magna Tiles--one of the best toys EVER). Needless to say, we are up to our ears in Legos. But it's amazing to see some of the things he builds with and I love it when his friend Mason comes over and the two can get lost in Legos while their younger sisters play dress-up. Talk about division along gender lines.

Anyway, yesterday, we took cupcakes to his class. But since we can only take in store-bought treats for the class, these were no ordinary cupcakes. They were cupcakes from Costco and like all things from Costco, these cupcakes were the size of Naomi's head. It was great to see all the kids eat them up (although most did not finish and some wrapped theirs up to take home). Sophia always has so much fun in Nicholas's class that she didn't want to leave. We let her stay for their science class and then Greg had to carry her out crying from the class.

Then today, we had a small birthday party for him with a few of his friends from school (some who also happen to be from church as well). We had lunch and then decorated t-shirts and cookies. We topped it all off with his field of dreams cake and ice cream. Nicholas said he wanted a baseball cake. I thought he wanted a cake that looks like a baseball. No, he wanted a cake with a baseball field. Anyway, since I wanted to keep it in the pan, it was a little harder to get the dimensions and scaling somewhat not too screwed up. Greg helped me draw it out and I think it looked ok. Nicholas thought it was great and that's all that matters, I suppose. It was fun, not too stressful, and Nicholas was just happy to have a big playdate with his good friends. He spent the rest of the day putting together his Legos and enjoying his presents. I thought it was especially funny that he kept saying things like, "this is my first breakfast as a 7 year old" or "this is my first time putting together Legos as a 7 year old" and finally, "this is my first bath as a 7 year old." We are so lucky to have him in our lives. He's so sweet and thoughtful and he's such a good big brother to his sisters. He's grown up so much and we're so proud of him. Happy birthday, my sweet baby boy.

I thought this picture of Sophia and her friend Symmes was hilarious. They were playing dress-up and were a little miffed that it was interrupted for cake and ice cream.