A Penny for My Thoughts: Happy 5th Birthday, George!

Well, I just really, really like this little person. George is five years old and absolutely wonderful. Here are five fun things about George:

1. He is detail oriented-- not much gets past him. He asks lots of questions because he likes to thoroughly understand things. He remembers all of his possessions and loves them.

2. He is a ~~hoarder~~ collector of all things valuable (or not so valuable). The necklace he is wearing in this picture came in a bag of hand-me-downs from a relative. He took to it and didn't want to take it off. He told everyone that it would "help you if you were ever in mortal danger".
That's a pretty valuable necklace.

3. George has always been a remarkably responsible and obedient little person . He doesn't wander off, very rarely tantrums, likes to do his "school work", goes to bed willingly, and unloads the silverware when asked. That's pretty good.

4. George is a seriously picky eater. This is one area he is not so cooperative, although I suppose his pickiness is more my fault than his. He regularly smells new foods before deciding if he will partake. He loves cottage cheese, so that's something. I won't list everything he doesn't like-- too lengthy.

5. He loves to run errands with me. If I am dropping someone off somewhere, going to a store, or talking a walk in the neighborhood, he always wants to come along. He is a pleasant companion who does not complain if our errands take a while. In fact, that's another great thing about George-- he doesn't complain about much of anything. He is a really tough cookie.

Yesterday was his bug birthday party. We chose a bug theme because he spent many, many hours in the spring and early summer searching for bugs and snails in the backyard.

Don't laugh. It really was the best I could do.
You can tell it's a snail, right? Not really my forte.

Buzz, Buzz, Sting (Duck, Duck, Goose) with their bug antennae was a good way to warm up. Every older kid knows how to play Duck, Duck, Goose, but remember that every older kid was once a younger kid who had to learn how to play. Knowledge of how to play the game isn't inborn-- even though it's hard to remember ever not knowing how to play. It's pretty hysterical to watch little kids learn to play.

We did a bug toss into the spider's web. George's bug is in flight in this picture and our spider's web is a mosquito net. A friend gave us these giant plastic bugs that were really great, except that one of them was a really awful, realistic looking black spider. I said no one could use that one, because it was too disturbing to me.

I really need to just throw that spider away, because I fear one of my people will use it to play a life-threatening joke on me. It wouldn't threaten my life, but if they use that spider to frighten me, their life would be in danger.

The gang and their bugs, except for one little gal who was feeling shy and stuck close to her grandma.

Pin the spots on the lady bug. I'm not terribly proud of my cupcake snail, but I am proud of my lady bug poster.

Our picnic with food geared towards little ones and George's picky tastes-- cheese and crackers, grapes, apple slices, Cheetos, and juice boxes. Nothing too messy, and food they could dish up all by themselves.

This was one of my favorite parts of the party. Traditionally, Abe tells some sort of story at the little kids' birthday parties. Yesterday he told a bug story about his oldest sister, Samatha, when she was a missionary in Paraguay. She came home to find a huge spider (the size of the paper plate) scurrying across the wall and she killed it with her shoe. Abe is a MAGNIFICENT story-teller and the children were in raptures! I could listen to Abe tell stories all day.

It was a special day because we celebrated cousin Emi's birthday as well! The party was on her actual birthday.

George and Emi' blowing out their candle together!

A great picture of the actual moment of destruction! Way to go Cannon!

And they're off on the bug hunt! Clark had scattered lots of plastic bugs all over the backyard and the kids descended and quickly found them all.

When Clark was this same age he had a bug party as well, so it was fun to remember back when he was little.

The party with their stash of candy from the pinata and their bugs.

I like this picture because George was pretty enthralled with the toy gun. So much so, that it was difficult for him to draw his attention away to thank his friend. I suggest the day may come when that cute friend might warrant his attention more than a toy gun:)