I told myself I would blog the boys' birthdays this year, and we're only about a month late for Vance. Better late than never, right? I wonder how long it will take me to get around to Edward....
Anyway, here we go.
Early questioning of Vance revealed that he didn't have his heart set on a particular type of cake this year. Would this be the year I wouldn't try to overachieve, and have a simple frosted rectangle? Nah, that would be too easy. He was unimpressed with any of the pictures I showed him, but he kept telling me to "think about his birthday cake." Then he caught me browsing for ideas on Pinterest, and immediately latched on to one of the cakes as HIS cake. No other cake would do.
Well, I tried. Fortunately, his standards were not all that exacting, so he was overjoyed with my best efforts. Unfortunately, it seems I didn't get a good photo of the cake. I would have sworn I did, but I can't find one anywhere, so we'll have to make do with this one of Vance with his candles. Close enough.
After nap, Daddy was home, and it was time for the birthday ring. The birthday ring is a German tradition we started incorporating into our family's celebrations last year. A new candle is added each year, and one by one, they are lit while telling the story of the birthday child's birth and life so far, and we've really enjoyed it. And then, of course, presents. Here we have the birthday table in all of its glory.
What is it with me and missing photos? It's a good thing this is a family blog, and not a professional one, or I'd have to fire myself. I got a couple of pictures of Vance opening gifts,
but somehow I missed getting one of him with all of his presents at the end, and especially missed getting a picture of his "big" gift - the fishing pole and felted fish. You can see a bit of it in those photos, so I guess that's okay.
This gift was a true labor of love, with me trying to figure out how to make the fish look right and work right, and Wazi and I trying to make the fishing pole work. Making a working reel sounds like a great idea until you're actually trying to do it, but it all worked out in the end, and he had a lot of fun with it.
The handy part about making this gift was that we were able to do a lot of work on it in front of Vance. We made a second set for his friend as a farewell present (including a little patchwork fish that Vance designed and did much of the work on himself - again, no picture. *Sigh.*), so as far as Vance knew, it was just the present we were making for his friend. When he opened it, he was both surprised and excited to see that he had one too!
Okay, this picture thing is really bugging me. The pole is in the room where Vance is napping, so I can't grab it, but I snapped a picture of some of the fish that were out here. That will have to do.
Later that night, Grandma and our friend Dee came for dinner. Grandma always finds the cutest wrapping paper!
Yay! Paper!
The following day, we got to go to the other grandparents' house to break open the piñata. It made a lovely hat. He also received cars and a beautiful apron (which he loves to wear when helping bake and cook).
All in all, a successful birthday. Phew!
