Tristan's 5th Birthday

All children get excited about their birthdays, but my little Tristan's euphoria today was something to behold! :) He came bounding out of his bedroom with more energy than I have ever seen him exhibit in the morning. He is so excited to be 5-years-old like Maya and Isabelle, and he thought that now he could go to Kindergarten, like they do. It is hard for him to understand that he has to wait till next Fall. For two weeks now--till Maya's birthday--I have three 5-year-olds!Even though we were celebrating in the evening, after a breakfast of fried scones and hot chocolate, I let him open one of his presents. It was a box of little squatty Star Wars figures. All the kids were very excited about this! It was so funny to see the difference between the girls' and boys' reactions as they pulled the figures out of the box.Girls:
"Oh, how cute! Look at this guy!"
"Ooooh, look how this one's legs move!
"That is so cute!"

Boys:
"Wow! He's got two shooters!"
"Hi-yah! I'm going to poke your eyes out with my shooter!"
"Look--Dark Vader's helmet comes off!"

The girls were sad to go off to school, but the boys had a great time playing all morning with these new treasures.

For several months Tristan has told me that he wanted to go to McDonald's for his birthday. A week ago when I asked him if this is still what he wanted, he said yes, and has been talking about it everyday since. It made it very easy for me, and all the kids had a fabulous time playing there. They are finally all old enough to climb around in the very top without getting too scared.Afterward we came home and Sandy and Robert joined us for cake, ice cream, cookies and presents. Tristan was in heaven the entire time!This was the first birthday we have had where all the kids wanted to give the birthday sibling a gift of their own. So they each picked out something from their "treasures" and we wrapped it up ahead of time. As a mother, watching them give their little gifts to their brother was the best part of the whole day!Sandy and Robert gave Tristan two beautiful new books, and Grandma & Grandpa Fifield gave him a little golf set, which he was very excited about!Mommy and Daddy gave him a globe that shows glow-in-the-dark constellations at night, and the Millenium Falcon to go with all those Star Wars figures.Happy Birthday Tristan! We love you!!!