Calvin's 5th Birthday

Happy Birthday, Cal! There are lots of things I love about you- your kindness, your sense of humor, your hospitality "Welcome to our home! Would you like something to drink?", your silliness, your amazing artistic skillz, your compassion and heart for the needy, your particularness (since he was a little dude, he lined up all of his toys in a row), your curiosity (even though sometimes it drives me nuts) and your honesty. Thanks for making it easy, Cal. I love you!

I got a lot of great pictures of birthday fun with friends and family. But here are some of the highlights...

Our friends, the McCowen's, who moved to India came over the day before Cal's birthday. It was a great treat for us all. But short. Hannah and Cal picked right up where they left off. It was so great to see them all again. But I was reminded of how much I miss them.

Cal pointed to a picture of a cake on a card he received. It was chocolate with pink frosting. It wasn't exactly the same, but he was still very excited and didn't give me a hard time (good thing, too, because I would have thrown them right out the window).

We planned on going apple picking with our friends this morning, but it was raining. So we met at McDonald's Playplace. It was hot, sticky, dirty, snotty, but loads o' fun. Here they all are- right at the entrance.

The Rods got Cal this crazy flavored plastic mustache.

Presents: A batman costume (terrible picture, I know)

A rollerskating set- complete with helmet and pads/guards. He is terrible, but super excited.

A lightsaber (but Cal calls it a "lifesaver" because it saves lives when the bad guys come)

And Grandma Barb and Grandpa Steve came in time for Grandpa and Eric to take Cal to see a movie while Ike napped. Then we ate Cal's favorite dinner, went for ice cream, and stopped by Choo Choo Bob's, a local favorite train store.