How Can it Be?

Today Rylan turned 6 years old and I can hardly believe it! He's been very excited for his birthday and all day long he was happy as could be. Yesterday he kept saying things like "I wish it was night time so it would be closer to my birthday"!! We tried to take the boys to see 'The Lorax' to start Ry's birthday early but it was so nice outside they just wanted to play outside. Okay! (I really want to see it though so I'll drag them to the theater if I have to!!) And we did go to Sam's Club to get some cupcakes for Ry to take to his kindergarten class. He saw the big Angry Birds cake and begged and begged for that to be his birthday cake. We had already chosen a cake I was excited about making so I didn't really want to buy a cake. When I spotted the Angry Birds cupcakes it was an easy sell. He immediately agreed to take those to his class and have the birthday cake we had already picked out!
So last night while the boys were in bed Kevin and I decorated downstairs. Rylan woke up at 6:45 this morning--I think he was just so excited for his birthday! We had agreed that he could open one gift in the morning before school and one gift at night when we sang 'Happy Birthday' and had cake and ice cream. "Good thinking mom" is what he said when I told him the plan :)

So while Asher was still sleeping Rylan opened his first gift--walkie talkies! He was thrilled--it was just what he wanted! We opened them up right away but he had to wait until after school when we had time to put the batteries in. We went to Toys R Us over the weekend and he walked around looking for something he wanted. I was watching him towards the end as he walked slowly, looking disappointed that he couldn't find much that he wanted. When we pointed out the walkie talkies he was so excited about them. Plus he and Kevin found a police costume that Ry was set on. So it ended up being successful after all!



So...I sang Happy Birthday to Ry on the way to school, dropped him off, came home to shower and get ready, then went back to the school at 10:15 (while the kids were at recess) to drop off his Angry Bird cupcakes. I watched Ry on the playground as he ran around holding on his birthday hat. It was so windy he later told me it kept falling off so he had to hold it on. I thought it was really cute that he kept it on!
I came home and got to work on his cake...when I discovered I was short on Kit Kats. I picked up the birthday boy from school at 11:20 and came home for a quick lunch and some walkie talkie play time before music class.
Ry seemed so sleepy during music class--probably because he woke up early! But he made it through and was excited to get home to play with a friend. We invited Matt over (in his school class and music class) and they played for awhile. At one point they were sitting side by side, watching 'Tom and Jerry' and talking to each other on the walkie talkies! When Pam came to pick up Matt I sent Asher's preschool registration info with her--yea!
I called to see if Rylan could play with Christian while I went to the store for some balloons and more kit kats. I ended up dropping him off along with Asher. I rushed to the store and rushed home to finish the cake (well, I didn't put on the ribbon so my mom did that for me :) and do a super quick semi-clean up. Poor Tyce was hungry but I didn't have time to feed him so I gave him his first Mum-mum cracker. He didn't know what to do with it and mostly just broke it up. He puts everything else in his mouth, but not the cracker! I buckled him in the car, we raced over to pick up Ry and Asher and then met Kevin at Winger's for dinner--Rylan's choice.
We were the only ones in the restaurant at 5:45. Weird. Dinner was pretty good. Rylan ate some popcorn and fries and only took one bite of his hamburger. He had fun coloring and doing the puzzles though!
Last week Rylan told us he wanted a surprise party. We kind of laughed but then I thought it could be really fun! So we had arranged for people to be at our house after dinner to surprise Rylan. I had called Tami earlier in the day with the fear that Ry was going to be scared and not enjoy the surprise. We had agreed they would turn the lights on and slowly come out of hiding. So when we got home Rylan ran inside, excited to open his last present. He turned on the kitchen light and as we were walking through the dining room the living room lights came on and everyone jumped out and yelled "SURPRISE!!!!" Rylan's reaction? "Whoa, that surprised me!" He said a couple other things about being surprised and then I could tell he wanted to cry. His little heart was pounding in his chest. Kevin took him in the pantry where Rylan wanted to hide from everyone and not come out. Oh, I felt horrible! I went in and talked to him for a few minutes. He didn't want to go out for cake and ice cream. He didn't want anyone to sing to him. He didn't want to go play. Poor little guy was still so scared he couldn't calm down. It wasn't until he found out he could open presents that he wanted to leave the pantry.




So we finally sang to Rylan and dished up cake and ice cream. Then he got to open presents. First up--a giant flashlight from the Holman's! While giving hugs and saying 'thank you' he hugged Mykenna and said "I like you"--so sweet :)
My parents gave him the police costume he wanted. "This is what I wanted!!"
The Heindorffs gave him an art kit--perfect! He sees these at the store all the time and always wants one! He was so excited about it all!!


It wasn't long before people started gathering up to leave. Darn these school nights--I didn't get to talk to anyone! Asher was so sad when Gavin had to leave. Those guys don't get to play together near enough. We gave Ry his last present (a new scooter) after everyone had left. Grandma was still here to watch him play hot/cold to find it!
I put Tyce to bed while Kevin got the boys ready for bed. I tried talking to Ry about his day to see if he had a good birthday. He said his favorite part was his "presents...and eating I guess." "What? you didn't even eat anything." (He didn't want cake or ice cream...or his dinner!) "Yeah, but I got to eat 2 kit kats, actually 3."



He was a happy boy, pleased with his gifts and his day (well, minus the scary surprise!)
I went to bed with tears in my eyes. Not only because I still feel horrible about the surprise party but because my boy is growing up. It's been so fun seeing him grow and learn so much in kindergarten (really, he's learned SO much!) but I want him to be 2 again. Or a tiny baby I can hold all day long. Oh, I just love this boy so much!
Next year I think I'll throw him another surprise party--with major modifications! I want him to have good feelings about surprise parties :)