As has been the case for most of Trevor's almost 10 years of life, we make a big deal of birthdays in this family. So no, Gwen didn't have a good birth-day. She had a great birth-week. It started off prior to her actual birthday with her "friend" party. Due to other extended family members having a nearby birthday, we decided to go a weekend earlier than her birthday. It seemed to work wonderfully. It had been a few years since I have been at a place that puts on birthdays for you, and I will say it was spectacular. We did a gymnastics party, and everyone there had a great time. I ordered an extra 30 minutes in the gym, and didn't even spend the whole 30 minutes in the party room, so they got even a few more minutes at the end. I couldn't believe the girls had that much energy and didn't collapse!
We were at baseball the next day and she couldn't wait to tell everyone about her friend party...because she also knew she had two more parties to come. She wanted to be able to tell everyone that she was 6 after that Saturday, and I think she did, but she also knew that she really didn't turn 6 until the 3rd....in the afternoon as Trevor had to point out again and again.
So on the 3rd, she went to school to celebrate it there as well. She brought Hostess cupcakes for her treat. She was very excited. She was able to stay at the after school program and get some extra treatment as well. We had both kids school conferences that afternoon so before we picked them up, we got an earful about how well both kids are doing in their classes. Gwen actually gets to split time between all three first grade teachers because of her reading and math ability. I have heard nothing but great things about all three first grade teachers so I'm happy about it all!
We picked up the kids to go to Benihana for her "real" birthday dinner that evening. We brought our gifts and she unwrapped them and got her big picks for the next Lego Friends stuff. And yes, that was what had to be put together right away, as soon as possible. Add another 1000 pieces put together by my hands. She can do it entirely by herself, but she gets sidetracked by the new characters. I wonder how many of those things she has now. My guess would be approaching 30 now. However, I feel like my kids each have their things. For Trevor, it has been Pixar's Cars characters, with a few Ninjago characters.....although that show is done. For Gwen it has been a little bit of princesses with a lot more Lego Friends stuff. And now that the Lego Friends stuff are both boys and girls, they have taken over inhabiting the Princess castles and such. So at least that princess stuff is sticking around.
And last but not least, she had her family birthday party on Saturday. We were missing a few key players in said family, but we hope to see them soon. With only consideration of our family, it was tough enough to find a day when something wasn't going on that would have conflicted with this day. But the day too was filled with fun times and good food and wonderful presents for the birthday girl. At the close of that day, was the close of her birthday week.
So today was the last day of Fall baseball for Trevor. Today Gwen was again talking about her birthday party the day before, but this time it was her family party. And through it all Trevor did his best to grin and bear it. I feel like I have to have the same talk with him every year about how it will be his "turn" soon enough and actually this year, he made an effort to help her on her actual birthday. On this last day of fall baseball, Trevor had good games. He did well both batting and pitching. Hopefully he got a chance to get a little bit better, but for now, it will be good to put it away for a few more months. I explained to him tonight that it was up to him if he wanted to find time to go to a batting cage or something similar. And the fact that today was the first day of hockey tryouts was the signal that we are gearing up for hockey as well.
It was a great year 5, but now on to year 6! Happy Birthday Week Gwen!
