Xavier's Eighth Birthday

Before Xavier went to sleep I took his picture because it would be the last time I saw him as 7 years old. I'm sentimental that way...................................................................................................

Then while Xavier was at school I baked a chocolate cake and blew up 4 punching balls that look like big balloons I hung some crepe paper and wrapped a few small gifts to surprise him.

Tom frosted the cake and put a little plastic Mario, a number 8 candle and way too many sparklers! If I did this myself I would have only put 8 sparklers..........but it was very exciting to see all those tall sparklers shooting sparks at once. I couldn't get it on camera. Speaking of not getting a picture. I didn't even think to take a picture of his classroom treats this year. They were so pretty too. Ice Cream Cone Cup Cakes. I used wafer cones with flat bottoms. Inside each cone I put 8 M&M candies then I peeled the paper off of a store bought mini cup cake and placed it right inside the cone. It was just the right size and the way the store swirled the white frosting it looked like ice cream. They even had colored sprinkles on top. What kind of a blogger doesn't get a pictures of that? Oh well.....I live for the moment. Oh and when you make these be sure to find a pretty box to send them off in. (presentation!) Size is important these fall over unless they are packed tight. I lined the bottom with a sheet of waxed paper and covered the treats loosely with another sheet of waxed paper. Xavier told me that all of the kids loved them except Olivia complained the cone was stale......... but he told me she still ate it just the same. I imagine the cones sat in that box all day and the frosting probably was softening the cones where it touched. I will keep that in mind next time I make these and brainstorm a way to keep the cones crunchy. I know what Olivia means. There must be a way to keep that cone crunchy. No more birthdays in our house for a good while.

Time keeps on slippin'...

Tom is a good man.

Here he is getting the flashlight ready to take his little brother out

for the time of his life... trick - or - treating.

This year 2009, Xavier is Superman.

Here he is in action, first stop, our house!

2 hours later...

What an awesome memory.

Developing Patience

This is the kind of thing I have to look out for as I turn a corner in my house.

( It reminds me a previous post ... refridgerator art )

Xavier is carefully balancing each action figure.

This may look easy but it's not.

The slightest vibration ~

can cause a domino effect.

And that's just what happened as I turned away.

A Warm August Evening...

walking the beach,

Xavier takes a moment to daydream.

And as the waves reach closer to him

he plays tag with the sea.

Gotcha!

All the rivers run into the sea;

yet the sea is not full. King Solomon

Super Hero

My Super Hero Son,

The strong and silent type.

Roses are red, roses are blue ?

Yesterday was a thoughtful exchange of flowers, valentines and candy. The bouquet above may look like one large bouquet but it's really a collection of vases clustered together. Look at that blue rose from Tom! And the peach one from Theresa. The white rose is from my sweetheart and all the rest of the beautiful flowers are from Nora. (Thank-you)

And...
Xavier 's other front tooth fell out!

Living With A Crime Fighter...

You can take Xavier out of the Spider Man costume,

but you can't take the Spider Man costume out of Xavier.

SEE!

Xavier has a surprise to show you.

SEE?
It's exciting to be almost 7 years old,
and your tooth wiggles out all by itself!

The tooth fairy used to bring me a shiny quarter for each lost tooth.

Xavier is hoping for a dollar.

For The Record

Halloween come and go without at least a mention? Nooooooo.... for let the record show that this lone little Power Ranger dragged in more Halloween treats than I have ever seen walk through these doors! Tom and Theresa guided the little super hero through our generous neighboorhood and taught him the most efficient way to zip from lit house to lit house without any needless dilly dallying in between. To a kid, trickatreating is like a job, if you're gonna do it then you might as well do it well.

The weather was mild. The moon was large and it wasn't windy. Xavier wore his long johns under his costume and was comfortable. When he got home and took off the costume he was all ready for bed.

Take a good look at that mountain of sugar because except for a couple of jaw breakers and dum dums it's just about all gone now. I don't police the candy. Well...ok I take that back. I do put restraints just a little. I put the pumpkin out of reach close to meals, at bedtime and before school. When it's candy time I want him to eat so much candy that he turns green and that's pretty much what happens. After a few hours of playing with the pumpkin Xavier doesn't want to see candy for a long time. Besides he throws most of it away after the taste test. He thinks Butterfingers are too crunchy, 3 Musketeers are too soft, Whoppers are gross. etc. etc. waste waste.... I happen to love them all and UGH I'm green myself thinking of all the ones I ate trying to save him. An interesting point of information: Although Power Rangers may possess super human strengths, they falter under the weight of chocolate bars and milk duds.

Spider-Man is Back in Black

Shooting webs

Displaying muscular strength

Charming my heart.

A Day to Remember

When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it happened or not.- Mark Twain

Xavier just turned 6 years old.

Instead of making the usual cupcakes for the class, I thought up another treat. I bought a box of giant POCKY sticks and tied a bright colored party blower to each one with a length of blue rafia. Then I tucked them all into a Spiderman gift bag and Xavier brought them to school. It was also his classmate Clarissa's birthday and the children did have cupcakes after all.

The theme of Xavier's birthday cake is my original idea but yet simple...another year older. A toy bulldozer pushing 5 birthday candles out of the way to make room for the Big Number 6. It's chocolate cake with chocolate frosting just as he hoped for but with pink vanilla frosting between the 2 layers for a little extra surprise. The cake is sprinkled with tiny bright colored confetti candy.

We have a tradition in our house that the birthday person may have the birthday meal of their choice. This doesn't usually get out of hand except for the one year Emma requested a cornish hen for each of us. I honored the request but the entire meal was very expensive and consequently her presents were limited that year. Since then she's been more frugal with her requests. Xavier had his favorite, spaghetti.

He got lots of presents and enjoyed his birthday. I hope it will be one for him to remember, although I must admit I have a hard time remembering many of my own past birthdays.

A Visit from Spiderman

Ever since last October we've been having special visits from the Spiderman.
Today he showed up for about an hour of crime fighting around the house. After he had been told not to jump off our couch and chairs, not to stand on the bed and not to throw "webs" around he settled down and had some toast and juice.
The next time I looked...he was gone again.

Before Spiderman used to make the rounds.... it was Woody, the cowboy sheriff from Toy Story who came to spend hours with us almost daily.

I'm sure that Sheriff Woody would come back if only my son XL could fit into the costume again. He's really living up to his initials X.L. by being Xtra Large.