Oh, Happy Day!

As we usually do, we spent New Year's Day at the Pressleys' house, celebrating the New Year, Freddie's birthday, and, today, A WILDCAT IN OVER PENN STATE IN THE CITRUS BOWL. Only slightly more unbelievable to me than the fact that my BABY will wake up a five year old on January 2nd is the fact that UK WON THE CITRUS BOWL.

We had the traditional New Year's meal - ham, collards, cornbread, and, Freddie's favorite, "chocolate beans" (black eyed peas). That was followed up with birthday cake and explosion of Double Bubble from the Spider-Man piñata that Freddie'd requested for the occasion, having heard Jones talk so much about them since his "Christmas Around the World" unit at HCA.

Between opening presents and popping the piñata, the boys had a ball playing outside with Ellery and Evan. It was a great kick off to what I hope will be another great year for my blue eyed boy.

Happy Birthday, Jonesie Bug!

I am a firm believer that birthdays should be celebrated extravagantly - though not, necessarily, expensively. I just like lots of celebrations and decorations and as much buttercream as is humanly possible. That made Jones's sixth birthday my kind of occasion. From the time he woke up in the morning until he hit the hay way past his bedtime last nite, some kind of celebrating was going on, and I am so grateful for the way things played out. First up, he opened his gifts from us first thing in the morning, as is our custom. He'd asked for a Herbie car with a wagon behind it (ever since seeing "The Love Bug" on a Movie Nite at church, he's been a little bit obsessed with Herbie) and a $12 digger / dump truck combo from the Dollar General. He got both things he was asking for and a few little extras, to boot - among them dinosaur day-of-the-week underwear and a Captain America racecar that he can paint himself.

From there, he headed to school, but he was only there long enough to go to chapel, because at 8:45, his class and the first graders boarded an HCA bus bound for the US Cellular Center in Asheville. Their first field trip of the year just happened to take place on Bobby Jones's birthday. "Pete the Cat" was the play they saw (Jones even wore a Pete the Cat mask!), and afterwards, they had a picnic lunch at Carrier Park in Asheville.  When we were leaving the theatre, Jones told me, "I can still do all the fun things I did when I was five!" He seemed excited - and, quite honestly, surprised - by this fact.

Naturally, I was THRILLED to be along as a chaperone on the big day. I took cupcakes for the kids, all of whom were SO sweet to Jones. They kept coming up and telling him happy birthday. Their great behavior and excellent manners spoke VERY highly of both their parents and their school. I was SUPER impressed.  I was even more impressed (or, should I say, RELIEVED) that Jones chose to ride the bus instead of in his mama's minivan. When it was time for me to leave after lunch, a quick kiss and a wave were all I got, proof that six must be a very mature kind of age! After school, we picked up his construction site cake (it had a digger on it; that's why Jones picked it. It's also why I had them write, "We dig you, Jones. Happy 6th birthday" on it) at Ingles and then headed to pick up Jones's Clyde First Baptist buddy Luke, who joined us and our family at Chuck E. Cheese's for dinner and fun. 

Chuck E. Cheese's seemed louder than usual to me. That didn't stop everyone from having a great time - especially Jones, whose favorite ride was probably the Mack. He did it a million times in a row, saying he had to make some "dewiveries." He got lots of great gifts - definitely more than he needed - and then we headed home, by way of dropping Luke off. While Jeremy got the boys ready for bed, I put Jones's new "Cap 'Merica cubbers" (Sissy gave them to him) on his bed. He settled in, all "comfy cozy" and ready to rest up for what we pray will be a spectacular seventh year!

That selfie stick I bought before we left for Fall Break
sure is paying for itself, huh???

This is Jones with classmates Aiden and
Noelle. Loretta, the fourth student in K5,
didn't make the trip, for some reason. 

Facetiming with A.J.

making his "dewiveries"

Birthday Buddies

This looks to me like something straight out of
"Charlie Brown."

Two of Jones's buddies from church just so happen to share his birth week. Ramsey Allen was born 10/16/13, and Reagan Moore was born 10/20/12. In fact, Reagan's mama and I did the math and discovered that we were actually in the same hospital AT THE SAME TIME welcoming babies who are now in the same Sunday School and Catechism classes.

How's that for a small world?

Anyway, because Ramsey and Reagan's mamas are two of my best friends here in Western North Carolina, we decided to make celebrating their birthdays together a thing, and so we did. For our first-ever Birthday Bash, we met at the Peace Center for a 9:45 showing of "How I Became a Pirate" and then had lunch - AND MILKSHAKES! - at the DELICIOUS Diner24 a couple of blocks up Main Street.

The kids all seemed to REALLY enjoy themselves - and, for my part, I couldn't get enough of the alone time with my big boy, who's increasingly become more and more of a joy to be around.

Happy birthday for sure!

his look; her grip on that purse