Back to Blogging....R turns 6!!

Happy Birthday Little R!! 

On September 8, we celebrated Little R's 6th birthday.  We were only a couple of weeks into school and he didn't really know his classmates, so we decided not to do a class party.

Instead we chose a party at our neighborhood pool and clubhouse...and prayed the warm weather would stay around! 

Little R hadn't really reconnected with many of his old friends (he was 3 when we left for Germany), but I wanted him to be surrounded by people to celebrate his birthday, so it wouldn't be so obvious that Daddy wasn't there.  So, I sent out an invitation to our Sunday School class, asking them to make an appearance at his little party, to make him feel loved on his birthday. 

And boy, did people make an appearance!!  We had family members drive hours to make his party, and the Sunday School families showed up in huge numbers!  We had a GREAT turnout! He had kids of all ages, and tons of adults, too!  It was a party to remember!!

Little R requested a Ninjago cake from the very beginning, so I started looking for party items.  It didn't take long to discover there were no preprinted Ninjago party items, so we threw together a "do it yourself" Ninjago party!  We actually had fun searching Pinterest for ideas, and putting them all together.  We also had some super fun pool time, and then the Snow Cone truck came!  This was a huge hit for the kids and adults, too!

Ninjas everywhere!

I thought the cake turned out great!

Waiting for the fun to begin...

The snow cone truck...huge hit!

R got the first snow cone, a lei, and a Kona Ice t-shirt.

This was the look on his face most of the day...pure happiness!

Blowing out the candles!!  Whatever you wished for, Buddy, I hope all your wishes come true!

We also requested that the Sunday School friends didn't bring gifts.  Instead we requested donations for our World Vision sponsored child in Ethiopia.  Again, people showed up in a BIG way!  We were able to send an extra gift of $183.00 to Derege in Ethiopia after Little R's party.

Thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate our little guy!  I say it every year, but he is just such a special part of our family...can't even begin to imagine life without him!