Birthday Party 2018
Greetings to you all.
Though last Sunday marked Xavier's fifth birthday, and we celebrated a little, today we had his party. This year was difficult to organize; Rebecca had been in Alabama for two months prior, so she did not have much time to plan. We even out-sourced the cake this year.
With no real theme this year (Xavier had several ideas, but nothing definitive), and so short a time to "pull it together," we kept things as simple as possible. In this theme-less planning, Rebecca decided upon a cake decorated with some of Xavier's interests: construction equipment and giant ants. With these ideas, she let the baker come up with a design: a hill under development where the equipment disturbed a giant ant nest.
Two weeks ago we invited his entire Frog class from school. The first RSVP came as a question. The invitation said Saturday, but the date on the invitation was a Tuesday. We had put June instead of May. We sent out corrections the next day.
Still, few RSVPs came in. Rebecca and I took to asking parents directly at school. We learned some things which never occurred to us. Many of Xavier's classmates had sporting activities, and these were all in the 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM time frame of Xavier's party.
Well, we thought, four or five of the fourteen in his class were going to make it, plus two other friends outside his class. That will be OK, and Xavier will still have fun.
Xavier grew excited as today arrived. Friends were coming over to play at his house. That alone is a wonderful present for Xavier. But as Xavier's anticipation grew, so did the threat of rain from the building storm clouds. And rain it did. Drenching, rain that poured down all morning. By 11:00 o'clock, the rain still fell.
We had hoped to host the party outside. Oh well, our house is big enough to entertain a handful of Xavier's friends.
The doorbell rang just at 11:00 and kept ringing for the next twenty or so minutes. The sporting events his classmates had were all cancelled due to the rain. Nearly the whole class showed up!
Most of the boys played out back under the cover of the patio. When the rain fizzled to drizzle and then to the occasional drip from the sky, they moved into the yard.
Some of the girls joined the boys and raced around the wet grass, strewing toys where ever they ran. They all made games and had tremendous fun.
Rebecca had planned on having the whole class and their parents, so we had the food and drink covered.
All in all, it turned out to be a wonderful party for Xavier. He scored more gifts, including another Lego set, even though the invitations said "No gifts, please."
For Xavier, the best gift was having so many friends over to play at his house.
Xavier Matriculates Pre-K
Greetings to all.
And so it begins. Waterstone, Xavier's preschool, had a graduation ceremony for those moving on from pre-K to kindergarten. Both Rebecca and I held the same attitude Bob Par held in The Incredibles.
Because of our thoughts (which did not change after Xavier's ceremony), I did not bring a camera to record the event. That is a choice I regret. The phone camera can only do so much.
The ceremony began with the traditional Pomp and Circumstance procession, and ended with the traditional recession.
Xavier was not shy during any of this, nor during the ceremony, as he often was during Christmas programs. This time, he was hamming it up and enjoying himself with the other children.
They children sang several songs, all of which the children signed along with the words. It was impressive they learned so much signing.
Then came the giving out of diplomas. This was done by class, and Miss Cara of the Frog class (Xavier's class) handed out the diplomas one by one.
I missed the actual hand-off of the diploma from Miss Cara to Xavier; the picture came out too blurry. But not a bad picture of him holding his diploma a few seconds later. He is all smiles.
After the handing out of the diplomas, each class stood forward and was recognized, then a closing prayer and the recession.
Rebecca and I picked Xavier up one last time from his classroom and headed to the reception. We ate cake and visited with other parents as a montage of candid pictures taken over the course of the school year played on a central screen.
It was fun, and Xavier had a fun time. There was sadness on my part as this chapter in Xavier's life (his preschool years) closed. Many of his friends he has known these last four years he may not see again, and their parents Rebecca and I have come to know will disappear with them.
Though Rebecca and I went to the event not impressed with the idea of a graduation ceremony from Pre-K to kindergarten, we are so glad we did go. It was fun, and Xavier shined.
Happy 5th Birthday
Greetings to all.
Wow. Five years ago today Xavier was delivered into the world. Much has changed since then; so much has happened.
Xavier woke up this morning with exuberance. He was five, and he was excited!
Today had a tight schedule, so we wanted to celebrate early. We plan for his party next Saturday because of this weekend's schedule. We celebrated Mother's Day yesterday to help make room for today.
After breakfast, we brought in a small cake, sang and Xavier blew out the candle. The cake, chocolate of course, had sprinkles encrusted all around it. Xavier loves sprinkles. And white buttercream frosting, as buttercream is the only acceptable frosting on a birthday cake.
We decided to call Xavier's Aunt Kathy first and open her gifts via a Skype call. We figured she would be the first one up at this hour.
Aunt Kathy scored two gifts. Toys R Us announced bankruptcy a few months ago and began their store clearance in Phoenix, so Kathy found several found timely bargains
Of course, Lego figured prominently with a 720 piece kit. But also a kit with magnetic shapes to build various cars.
Needless to say, Xavier was excited with both of these.
After this we tried Grandma Penny, who is also an early riser.
Grandma Penny sent her gift nearly a month ago, as she also found a deal: a Lego monster truck. This eclipsed the other two gifts—after all, the truck was from the Lego City shorts Xavier has been watching on Netflix.
We tried Grandpa Danny next, but we could not reach him. So, it was out to Middle Earth to build the monster truck.
After church we had lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant. We are in there often enough we know many of the staff. Xavier announced he was five, punctuating his statement by holding out his hand with all fingers expanded.
At the end of our meal, Ivan, our server, brought Xavier two small sopapillas with drizzled with chocolate and strawberry jam to celebrate Xavier turning five.
When we came home, we asked Xavier to get something out of the barn. There he discovered the gift from his parents. Would it be the gift to eclipse all others? The jury is still out on that question, but it certainly ranks high on the list.
We called Grandpa Danny again and got hold of him. Xavier opened his gifts with Danny listening on the phone.
Grandpa Danny gave some thoughtful gifts. Several books signed by the authors which have been in the family for (now with Xavier's ownership of them) three generations.
Danny also gave a bag of Yukon Gold potato starts and some gardening tools. The starts will go into Xavier's garden soon and the tools will help with that.
Happy 5th Birthday, Xavier!
Donuts With Daddy
Greetings to everyone.
Xavier's Frog Class hosted a Donuts with Daddy event this morning at school. What a lot of fun! Both Xavier and I anticipated today's event for the last two weeks.
Xavier ate breakfast and dressed easier this morning, excited Daddy was coming to school with him today.
Arriving at school, thirteen kids brought thirteen dads and one grandpa. The room held two teachers in addition to all of us, a room with a stated capacity of 22.
The children were excited, their morning routine disrupted, they clamored and ran amok.
The teachers had many tricks to keep the children in check. Impressed by these, we dads spoke among ourselves whether we could pull some of these same tricks off at home. We all decided, no, no we could not.
There were queues for the donuts, the table only sat four dads and four children at a time. But, there were other things to do also while waiting for a place at the table. We had a craft to partake in, and a photo shoot.
The craft involved painting our hand and pressing it on a sheet of paper. Later, after the paint dried, the child would press their painted hand over the top of their dad's print.
The event ended with an early recess. We dads walked our kids to the playground, then headed out ourselves to finish our day.
