Happy Birthday, Charlie!

Yesterday, Charlie turned five. As trite as it may sound, I really can't believe how quickly he's growing up! In the weeks leading up to his birthday, I've been reminding him that his birthday was coming up. He would say he didn't want his birthday to come. And, when people asked him how old he would be on his birthday, he'd say "four!" and deny that he would be five. I figured out that it was because I had told him that after he turned five, he'd be able to go to kindergarten. He really loved preschool and didn't want to go to kindergarten. I think he thought that the moment he turned five, he'd have to leave preschool and go straight to kindergarten. It's interesting how kids think of time. Well, I think he's accepted the fact that he's five because he now says that he's "five years old". I'm sure it helped that he got to go to preschool on his birthday.

As mentioned previously, Charlie didn't just love trains, he LOVES trains. I can't remember when it all started but I do remember the early days of him learning to eat solid foods and lining up whatever was cut up for him on his plate like train cars. So, it was very appropriate that Grandma sent him a locomotive cake mold. I thought it'd be fun to bring the cake to share with his preschool friends on his birthday. Since I'd never used a mold for a cake before, I made a practice run for playgroup on Friday.

So here's the trial cake:
And here's the one I made yesterday for Charlie's preschool:
I must admit it wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be. The hardest part was greasing the pan, which took a very LONG time because of all the nooks and crannies. Charlie got to pick where he wanted the different colors of frosting. That was the funnest part!

I was too lazy to make the cake a THIRD time so we had the leftovers of the preschool cake for our little family birthday party. Charlie wanted pizza for dinner so that's what we had! I loved that I didn't have to cook but I would've enjoyed making something at home for him if he wanted. Not having to cook and do too much clean-up was a bonus.
He got to pick out his birthday gift from us at Target. It's a remote controlled GeoTrax train. I'm glad I let him pick because I wouldn't have thought to get this toy for him. I thought he would've wanted a Thomas train because he loves Thomas. But maybe he chose this one because he already has several Thomas & Friends trains. It's so fun to watch him be so happy playing with a toy he really loves.

Changed

I had planned to have playgroup at my house tomorrow morning. Charlie's birthday is coming up and I wanted to have a small celebration with our playgroup friends in our home. I was going to put up a few decorations and make a train cake with the locomotive cake pan my mother-in-law sent us... Charlie loves trains; it's his passion.

Anyway, my husband called from work to tell he'd have to go into work in the middle of the night. He used to have to go in at night about once a week and I never could host playgroup. Now that he has a new job, it's rare for him to have to do that but it happens. I couldn't believe that the one time I actually planned to have playgroup at our house he has to go in the night before. I wasn't happy about it.

Later I was on the computer and I read about Stephanie Nielson. When I got on Facebook, I saw a link for a YouTube video that a friend had posted. I watched the video and was touched. I changed my mind about playgroup and decided that it wouldn't be so bad to have to do it at the church. Now I don't have to clean my house or worry about decorations! I'll still make the cake.

Lost and Found

I have a bad habit of losing things. I've lost my wallet a few times and luckily have been able to find it each time except once. I looked everywhere I could think of but couldn't find it so I had to go through the routine of calling the credit card companies and getting my driver's license renewed.

A week or so ago, I lost my cell phone. I hadn't had much luck finding it in the house or the car. Last night, I just felt like I should look in both cars. So, I combed through Dan's car and my car. Not only did I find my phone (yay!), I found some other stuff. I wonder how long that's been in there? Can anyone guess what it is??