He was excited to open some presents, but a little bit overwhelmed too. You can't tell, but Anna also has a bow on her head in this pic. Henry placed it there for her.
He was very thoughtful about his wishes. I resisted the temptation to ask him what he wished for. I hope they all come true!
Tonight at bed I was telling him that I wasn't entirely sure what his plans were for the morning. I said something like "I'm sorry, Honey, I got your plans a little confused I guess." His immediate reply to me was "You don't have to apologize. You're still the best mom."
Then we went to the Rainforest Cafe for our first crazy experience there. Behind the kids is a big crocodile. Notice Clara's new sideways smile.
Here we are after the meal. It was probably 8:45 by this time. The kids were wiped and Clara was developing a little bit of gunky eye.
Here we are this morning. Henry opened a few gifts, skyped with Grandpa Bill (new cap) and Uncle Rob and Aunt Carrie and talked on the phone with Grammie. Here he's checking out the book Pete and I got him.
Here's another gift from me and Pete...it's a cool Magic Schoolbus science kit with all different dinosaur experiments.
More excitement is in store for today. Henry has a birthday party to attend (Rachel's!) and we plan to have a few friends and family over for dinner and cake tonight. Can't believe my little guy is six years old!
While some kids finished masks other kids played a little bit of dino ring toss. Here Henry's helping his sister feel successful.
If you look closely you may notice that the girls are making rainbow dino masks.
Then we played a little bit of hot-potato dino pass.
And we took a group photo.
And a smiley one. That girl in the gray in front seems to be Henry's favorite. She has her glasses off in this photo. Keep the name Rachel in mind...you may continue to hear in over the years.
We did a little bit of dino egg racing. They had to push the eggs with their noses. I think there was lots of cheating. The stakes were high for dino sticker and dino silly band prizes.
Here was a play-doh game where we had to make different dinosaurs as quickly as we could. Also in this photo you can see the bags of groceries kids brought to donate to the food pantry. Henry collected about 5 bags worth of stuff! Stay tuned for a post in a few days after we go deliver those things.
Then it was time for dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets (hooray Whole Foods!) and fries and grapes. We made the volcano erupt after cupcakes.
Notice that Rachel is sitting right next to Henry.
I think it was a pretty successful party! Tonight we're going to attempt the big lights parade downtown. Tomorrow is another party with family and friends!
This morning we all kept our pajamas on (okay, I got up and showered and then put on clean full-coverage pajamas) for the pancake, skunk pajama party. While we were doing last minute preps Henry said "Mom! Take a picture!" and he was sitting there all cute with Franklin. When I came back with the camera Clara had joined them too.
At 9:00 the craziness began. Here's Henry with 2 of his best buddies from school.
They immediately set upon every toy they could find in the family room.
I got to work on the pancakes.
After more rowdiness I gathered the troops for a coloring contest. Everyone won a stinky scratch-and-sniff sticker.
When one of the boys asked if we could go outside I said "no, we're not going outside today..." and then I thought about what I was actually saying and realized that going outside was a great idea. The weather was beautiful.
Someone thought this hat should fit Clara.
Here's a little picture of some of the decor. There's a bunch of black and white "model magic" on the table for a skunky craft we never got to.
Then the gift madness began.
And we played a little "Hot Skunk".
And tried to get a group shot. Clara and Sebby didn't make it into this picture.
During the football game I mixed up a little frosting and made the skunk cake. It started out looking a bit like a turtle, and then a toad...but I was vindicated when Clara looked at it and said "Gunk!" then she stuck her touche out and made a spraying sound.
We ditched plans for the parade. It was becoming more and more apparent that with napping and football timing it just may not work out. When Henry told us last night that he didn't really want to go we decided not to push it. Maybe next year!