Party On!

Today was our big boy's birthday party. And you know what? He really is a big boy now! This year's party was a huge change from previous years, and not in a bad way. Until this year, our boy has not been a fan of parties in general, and his in particular. They were too noisy, too busy, and I think he just generally felt overwhelmed. When discussing this year's party, he made it clear that he wanted a small, family-only party. Which sounded great, considering everything else we've got going on. Perfect!

Well... Just over a week ago, Nikos started talking about how he couldn't wait for Brady to come to his party. Brady is his very good buddy from daycare. But... Brady was not invited to the party, because of the aforementioned plan. Still, he kept going on and on about it, and I finally decided to shoot Brady's mom an email (she's a teacher in my district, so I know her outside of daycare). And he came! Along with his little brother, who is a year and a half old. Bonnie (our daycare lady and next-door neighbor) also came, bringing along her grandson, Teagen. The three daycare buddies had so much fun together, and it was great to watch Nikos running around with these little boys his age, as happy as can be. They played soccer, they played freeze tag, they raced cars, etc. They were dripping sweat! But Nikos was thrilled, and that's all that matters!

Anyway... How about some pictures? Both kids should sleep soundly tonight, after the great day they had!

Daycare friends! Clockwise, starting at the top: Nikos, Brady, Brady's brother, Teagen, and Maya

The t-rex piñata that yiayia and pappou brought. Nikos LOVED watching his friends swing at it, but had no desire to try it for himself.

A boy and his dinosaur cake

Maya's new bellydancing ensemble from yiayia. It is the cutest thing ever! And yes, she got quite a few little presents herself, even though it wasn't her birthday.

Grown men playing with Lego Duplo blocks, haha!

This room was clean this morning. sigh!

Our boy on the gift we bought him-- a big boy bike! I can't believe he is old enough for this!