And Then They Were Five

So yes, my big boys had a big boy birthday last week. Five sounds so grown-up, you know? Five means kindergarten, buying clothes in the boy section of the store, and eschewing Thomas in favor of Transformers and Star Wars and, if possible, Star Wars Transformers.

We had our typical low-key birthday, which for us means a house full of friends and family, a supper of pizza with a cupcake chaser, and opening gifts together. That's all for now. I figure I've got plenty of time in the baby-free future to plan more elaborate parties; plus, they know no different and think my half-assed version of "party" is great and awesome, so who am I to correct them? They'll be exposed to fancier affairs once they start school--I'll keep it low-key as long as possible. Or, you know, forever.

Anyway, the big, important gifts this year were big boy bicycles. By mid-summer last year it was painfully obvious that they had outgrown their trikes, but it was late enough in the season that we kept our mouths shut (they were happy, after all) and passed on this information to my mother, who resolved to find bicycles for them for their next birthday. She and my dad came through admirably, and my in-laws contributed with awesome, superhero-themed helmets.

So the boys opened presents in the living room with everyone looking on, and then my mom asked them to come outside and see something. And there they were: the bikes.

This is what J did, bare feet and all, as soon as he saw
his prize. He just clambered up like a monkey,
no help needed or wanted. Whoa.

The Darth-Vader-riding-a-bike tees were from us.
They can be found here.

And...they were off. There was no stopping them.

There was no stopping five.


ps: I purposefully tried to not get too sentimental, because seriously? I love them at every age and never want to appear melancholy about them growing up. But just in case you crave the sentimental stuff, here's a post from when they turned two, here's a post from three, I failed at four, and to round it all out, here's my tear-inducing post from the night before C was born. Y'all, I know I've said it a million times, but B and J were so very tiny.