Wow, my firstborn is already six years old! Time does fly...We celebrated the little guy's birth on Saturday. While I had initially suggested his birthday party be held at a bowling alley (since I thought that would be fun AND not a whole lot of work), Ben was not wild about the idea. Granted, we have never taken him bowling before and my Internet research suggested that 6 year olds were an appropriate age for bowling parties but the ideal age was more like 8 year olds. The Lego theme was greeted with much enthusiasm, however, as this boy is crazy into Legos right now. And thus the party was held at our house...
The Lego themed invites went out to Eli Pantzlaff, Ethan Sackrison, Mikey Mundschau, Jack & Jessie Lemm, Kate & Sam Johnson, Tristan Harris and, of course, Abby! Ben came up with this list and it was perfect. Mikey was in Florida, but everyone else was able to attend. We planned for a 2 hour party, from 1 PM to 3 PM in the afternoon.
Ben was soooo excited for his party. Uncle Scott and Aunt Lisa came to help. Aunt Lisa said to Ben, "I've never been to a Lego birthday party before." Ben replied happily, "well, then, you're in luck!" Many thanks to Uncle Scott for helping Kurt blow up over two dozen red, blue and yellow balloons! Ben loved their gift- a Spy kit with great gadgets as Ben and Abby like to play detective- cool idea!
We served air popped popcorn, cake and homemade ice cream. Ben wanted a Lego cake of course. It needed to be gluten free for Abby to partake. And I requested no artificial food colors. Poor Kurt. But he was up to the task. He used the juice of frozen thawed blueberries and rasberries for red and blue coloring (which ended up looking more purple and pink, but oh well!) Kurt did it again, what a guy!
Our first game was for each child to guess how many Lego pieces were in the jar. We had guesses from 25 to 1000. Ethan was closest with his guess of 205 (there were 350). He won a mini Lego set. Thanks to Kurt for counting all of them!
Our next activity was a Creativity challenge. Each child had about 15 minutes to build whatever there little hearts desired (we offered suggestions, ie. make something surrounding their favorite activity) with the three buckets of Legos at the table and then share what they made. Kurt had designed and printed awards that we handed out to each child. Abby wanted to make a Princess book. Ben built an airplane. I was very thankful to Katie for helping and filling in the Awards to present to each kid!
On to the Pin the Lego Peg on the Brick game. Each child was blindfolded and assigned a peg of an 8 peg Lego. They were to place their missing peg as close to the designated space for their name as possible (while blindfolded). Ben was the spinner and the judge of this game since there were 8 children besides himself. Sam Johnson was closest and won the prize.
Then we played 2 rounds of Hot Lego (the Lego version of Hot Potato). Kate handled the music portion. The Lego was passed and one by one children were eliminated from the circle. Ben won the first round and all the kids celebrated and hugged him. I loved that. Sam won round 2.
Their next assignment was to build the tallest Lego tower. They had ten minutes and then we brought them to the table to see whose was tallest. Tristan won and Kate came in second. This was a fun game.
Next we sang Happy Birthday to Ben and had the Lego cake and ice cream. This was the first time we tried Namaste's gluten free Vanilla cake. Kurt and I concluded that the chocolate version of the GF cake line was hands down better and in the future, we will stick with that!
I had printed out some free Lego coloring sheets from the official Lego website, which some of the kids colored after they were done with cake. They had fun with the balloons and got pretty wild so Kurt decided to reign them in with one of our backup games (spoon races) in the remaining time. He assigned two teams and they needed to carry Legos on a spoon across the living room and drop in the bucket and then the next teammate went and so on. If any Legos were dropped off the spoon, they needed to start over.
All in all, everyone seemed to have a great time. Most importantly, Ben said he did! His friends generously gave him gifts- three Lego sets, Science book, Star Wars Lego watch, and cars. Ben thanked his friends for coming to his party when they left and gave them each a Lego 3 in 1 mini set we purchased for each child as a parting gift/party favor. The prizes we gave out for games were a handful of Lego bricks I put together in individual celephane bags. Aunt Sandy's boyfriend Tom had generously gave us his boy's (now in their teens) very large bin of Legos which I used for the party games and prizes.
We did not hold a family party this year for Ben. Grandpa and Grandma Burie made a point to bring Ben a gift on his birthday, as well as Grandma Krist. Grandma Krist wanted to help out with Lorelai at Ben's party, but unfortunately, Lorelai ran a fever the night before and we did not want to risk getting Grandma Krist sick with her already compromised immune system undergoing chemo treatments. Aunt Sandy, Grandma Zipfel and others remembered Ben on his birthday. The weekend before, Barb came to visit and surprised Ben with a birthday present (Lego set) that thrilled Ben so much, he wrote about it in his Special K log/journal for school.
Ben got an extra treat on his birthday: a night out at the Bucks game with Daddy and his friends Kate and Sam Johnson from next door. The Johnsons had invited them to this event with their church. Ben had a great time with Kate and Sam (he did not care much about the actual basketball game) and got home around 10:30 PM (a very late night for him!). He woke up the next day with a fever and slept most of the day (minus Sunday School).
Let's see, from 5 years old to 6 years old, how has Ben changed? He grew about 2 inches and 4 pounds. He changed schools, from Christ the Life preschool three days a week (3 hours at a time) to Summit View Elementary five days a week in all-day Kindergarten. In general, he no longer naps. His is pretty self sufficient. He can make his own snacks (ie. ants on a log). He takes the bus. His reading and writing skills have advanced. He now wears glasses. He rides a bike without training wheels. He ties his own shoes. He can follow directions to build Lego sets. His shoe size is 1 in boys. His friends are largely the group of children he invited to his birthday party. From school, he mostly talks about classmates Tristan Harris, Anniken, Mahit Krishnan, and Gavin Byrne as his friends. Tristan and Mahit both live in our neighborhood.
And what has remained the same? His clothes size has not changed much- still wears mostly 5/6T clothes. He continues to be imaginative, a rule follower, good listener, and curious. He eats well- almost all fruits and vegetables- not a picky eater. He is a pretty mellow fellow as other parents have observed. At home, he can get frustrated when things do not happen as expected sometimes or a project he is making does not turn out as planned (a bit of a perfectionist). Ben is an articulate six year old, a good communicator.
On his sixth birthday, Ben had all 20 baby teeth. Two days later, he lost his first tooth (from bottom middle)! He expressed concern about his tooth falling out at school- fear he would lose it. I offered to pull it out which was met with anxiety...however, after further pondering, Ben requested I do it. I barely touched his tooth and it fell right out into my hand! Ben was happy!
Ben's current interests include building Legos (hence the party theme), art projects, creating things, costumes, pictures, etc. He enjoys biking in the summer, imagination play where he builds things, uses a hammer, scissors, glue, etc. He enjoys books but it is not the first thing on his list as it is for Abby. He enjoys listening to music CDs. In school, his favorite activities include...
On the other hand, he is not overly enthused to watch sports of any kind. He is not drawn to the TV when Daddy is watching football and hasn't been overly enamored with hockey or basketball though Daddy has recently taken him to a hockey game (with Mikey and Ethan) and a basketball game (with Kate and Sam).
Ben is a sweet, caring son who is a great role model for his younger siblings who certainly enjoy immitating him! We love you Ben!
