We've had a big week or so since the last post. We enjoyed our day off, and have been going full tilt since then. Alex's birthday party was Saturday and we had a ball. A bowling ball that is. Thankfully, all four- and five-year-old attendees left with their toes intact. I was worried. Crushed toes was the concern, or perhaps being thrown out of the bowling alley for breaking Rule # 3 on the board hanging over the lane: Do NOT put loft on the ball. The boys didn't really understand that one, and it showed! All four of the boys (I'm not allowed to call them little anymore - Alex's rule) could barely heft the smallest bowling balls. We'd hand them to them, they'd totter toward the line, and then lift them up and FLING THEM! THUD! Then they proceeded to roll toward the pins at, if possible, negative speed. It was all we could do to finish a game in our allotted hour time slot. We had to watch them carefully because all of them tried to roll the ball before the pins were set. I'm not sure why we bothered - I think the pins could be cleared and reset before the ball made it all the way down the lane!

After the bowling, we had cake. Not just cake, Batman cake. Alex was very happy that he got the mask portion. "Mom! I got Batman's antlers!" Art just shook his head. Here's the birthday boy with the cake:



The cheesy grin? That comes from me whispering in his ear, "Straighten up and smile!" I was happy to see that whininess abounds in the afternoon hours for boys used to having a naptime. (Whether they use it for sleeping, or not, like Alex.) Here's the whole gang:


You might notice that Alex and his compadre on the other end are in mid-nap-missing fit/sulk. This was when we broke up the party. (The two in the middle were in fine form and may have actually hopped all the way home. I should feel guilty about the amount of sugar I gave them, but don't. Just like I don't feel guilty about sending them home with goody bags containing noisemakers and paddleballs!)

This is the birthday season. Out of these four we've had two birthday parties in the past six weeks, and the other two are in the next two weeks. Next up: a pool party which Alex wants to go to, as long as he doesn't have to swim or get in the water. Now that's going to be fun!

All in all, we thought the party was successful. After all, no one got hurt and no one saw Alex's Batman underwear. (He wanted to show everyone that he was in theme.) The worst part of the day: trying to find the cake decorator's shop. Mapquest put it on a map but couldn't give me directions, while Google Maps gave me very precise instructions - to the middle of nowhere. I had to call and ask the very nice cake lady how to get there. Her shop was miles from where the directions took me. I should've asked in the first place.

Well, I'm off to watch the end of Chuck and have a piece of Batman cake. Alex motto for the day, "When I grow up, I'm going to be an invisible ninja!"