My favorite 6 year old's birthday

Kelton turned 6 this past week!  He has been so excited for his birthday to come.  He's been using our calendar count down blocks to count down the days.  It's kind of funny though because there weren't really any presents that he was wanting.  He was just excited for his birthday to come. 

 

As always, we woke him up by singing "Happy Birthday" and gave him his presents in bed.  I love this picture... he's so excited, but still sleepy, and the light we had just turned on was really bright.  It's also fun to wake Kelton up because he is my only "baby" who is technically already the new age when we get up in the morning.  At the time we took this picture, he would have been about 20 minutes old on his actual day of birth, if that makes any sense.  (He was born at 5:55 a.m.)

It was a little difficult to come up with presents since we just had Christmas, and Kelton gave us absolutely no ideas.  I never took a picture of his presents, but he got Pikmin 3 for the Wii U, two Star Wars guys (Obi Wan and Darth Vader), Uno Power Grab game, the movie "Bolt," and an Angry Birds puzzle.  Grandma and Grandpa Burgess gave him Sonic Lost World for the Wii U, which he was super excited about.  If there is one thing this kid loves right now, it is Sonic the Hedgehog.  Grandma and Grandpa Webb sent a $20 bill (which made his eyes grow wide to get so much money) inside of a rousing, singing birthday card which took him off guard a bit in his sleepy state.  But he spent the afternoon after school listening to it over and over again until he knew all the words.  After presents were opened, we got kids ready for school and off on the bus.

The kids' schools do not allow anything homemade to be brought in for the kids.  I'm sure I've complained about this before.  I guess I get it, but it is still annoying not to be able to make cupcakes for a dollar or two to take in for a birthday treat.  So we took in popsicles.  Ah, the benefits of living in the desert in the winter.  I even had to take them in a cooler so they wouldn't melt too fast, and even so, it was close.  Kelton got to wear the special birthday hat while his class sang "Happy Birthday" and then everyone got a popsicle.  (Arie is friends with Kelton's teacher, Jenn Vaterlaus.  We are in the same ward and Arie always climbs up on her lap in Relief Society.  That's why Jenn is holding Arie in this picture.)  Because I took the popsicles in at the end of the day, Kelton got to come home with us instead of riding the bus, which he thought was fun.

At home, Kelton spent pretty much the whole afternoon doing his new puzzle.  I was surprised that he didn't go straight for the Wii U games.  It's kind of a cool puzzle.  It's three puzzles that push together, once finished, to form one big picture.  Each puzzle has different sized pieces.  In all, I think there are about 160 pieces.

You can see his two Star Wars guys in the back of this picture... He would intermittently play with them while doing his puzzle.

 

 

When Kelton first came downstairs this morning, he asked, "Where's my cake?"  I told him I hadn't started it yet and that it would be done when he got home from school.  I felt bad because I would have liked to have had it done and sitting on the counter when he woke up, but time just didn't permit.  I even ran out of time that morning and had to finish it after he got home from school. 

 

I have to interject something here, and hopefully my kids will understand when they read this someday.  I am getting burned out on cake making.  For the first few years, it was fun.  But making cakes is time consuming.  And with four kids who are still small, time can be hard to come by.  Birthday cake making has become somewhat of a chore.  For the last few birthdays I have found myself wishing that my kids would be happy with a cake, frosted in the pan, with some sprinkles or something on top.  Because that's what normal people do.  Not crazy, cake making people.  But years ago, I set a standard of crazy cake making, so here we are.  Really, I kept this one simple and the frosting transfer didn't take too long. 

 

Natalie came over right after I finished the cake.  I asked her if it looked good.  She said, in an even tone, "Yeah, it looks good.  I mean, it looks really good.....for a thirty year old."  She makes me laugh.  I'm still not quite sure how to take that comment.  It reminded me of how a mother talks to a preschooler who has just held up their prized drawing, and the mother has absolutely no idea what it even is.  Have I even mentioned that life would be very dull without Natalie?

 

Anyway, Kelton requested Sonic, and he got Sonic.


Here is his reaction to seeing his cake.  He loved it.  Which, I guess, is why I put up with the crazy cake making.

Happy birthday Kelton!  We love you!