A fabulous birthday was had here this week--play and snow time with a dear friend; gingerbread cupcakes with whipped cream (thanks for the recipe, Amy!); yummy indian food for dinner; and lots of fun family treats and play. Here are a few 'crafty' related photos (forgive the flash, it was not a bright day!).
He awoke to these on the floor of his bedroom (where he lays out at night the clothes he'll start the next day with)....which upon opening were:
Gretl and Fredrick, of course.
And then there was the desk. Oh my. The desk. Steve was a hero working on this warped, chipped, piece of a mess every night in the cold basement (with only a break for Project Runway. You should have heard him cackle during the ice skating costume challenge. I think he's hooked.). And let me say 'thank you' to all of you for the painting/sanding/stripping tips in the comments last week! Quite helpful AND humorous ("strip!" "no! sand!"). To make a long story short, he stripped, sanded, painted and stained, and this is what we got. You'll see the rolltop is missing, and the chair too--they both need some more, um, work. But Calvin was nonetheless pleased with his new desk, and in particular, pleased with the new automatic pencil sharpener--which won the coolest gift of the day award by him:
Can you see the joy in his face (dressed as a chimney sweep, by the way) as he discovers how truly SHARP this thing makes the pencils? Ah, the important things....
And my favorite photo to emerge from the day. His only two birthday gift 'requests' -- a Gretl costume, and a hockey stick and puck. Oh my. I love this kid.
I cannot believe my baby is five. Five! But that's a whole long thing that I think I'll save for a letter just to him. Amazing.
