Can you believe that this little boy is FIVE years old? He is just eight days late for the Kindergarten cutoff, so here he is on his first day of preschool. His face in this picture is so classic Ellis, and it reminds me that four has been a really good year for us. A year of progress. I will be the first to admit - three was hard. Over the past year, he and I have arrived in a much better place. I can now honestly say that this unique, clever, adorable, stubborn-as-a-mule boy now brings me joy every single day. Not every single minute, but where would the challenge be in that? I think I have learned most of my parenting skills because of this boy! I really, truly, absolutely love my Ellis.
And as you know, I express my love in the form of sugar!
Ellis (thankfully - life is crazy right now) chose to have a "Balloon Birthday Party," which is a repeat from Henry several years ago. But instead of balloon cupcakes, Ellis wanted cake pops. Who wouldn't?
The boys helped me put together favor bags with even more sugar.
Cute, yet simple. You know what I mean?
Our screen porch had its very first party! I've decided we need twinkle lights out here for the next party.
Let the party begin! We started out with a reading of "The Lost Balloon" by Ben.
The book was from the Cheerios box! It is about a girl who lets go of a balloon with a message attached to it.
So naturally, we had to make enemies with our environmentally-friendly neighbors by sending off our own balloons.
But look! The kids loved it!
Ellis requested a repeat of the great COLOR CHANGING WATER trick from last year's party. That trick is always a hit! And yes, this is our babysitting co-op group, so we served chicken nuggets and grapes for dinner (Ellis' choice).
Balloons on the wall contained the name of each activity:
Rocket balloons
Water balloon toss
(which turned out to be a water balloon fight, to Ellis' delight)
There were more activities:
Punching ball dance
Balloon stomp (with balloons tied to their ankles)
Hot potato
500 with a water balloon
"keep it up" (don't let balloon touch the ground game)
Then we went back into the porch for cake (through the doggy door, of course. What else would we do?)
Cake pops all aglow
And the five-year-old wishing away
Seriously. Ellis is such an important part of my life. I don't think I would be who I am without him. He brings laughter and life and energy into our home. He works hard and is always a finisher. And he helps me remember the names of all the people we are meeting - at church, school, the soccer field, etc.
And isn't he adorable too? Happy birthday, Ellis!
