The countdown began sometime in May! The time finally arrived on June 18th, the day Israel turned 6. He went to bed Wednesday night without a fuss because we had his birthday to dangle over his sweet head. "The sooner you fall asleep, the sooner it will be your birthday." Yes, we did this to help him get closer to his birthday, but we also did this for the sake of some peace and quiet in the house...my sister appreciated my efforts to get both her children to sleep before 9pm.
At 9pm- the tv went out, the closet light came on and Israel was tucked into his NEW superhero bed set. My sister and I sat downstairs watching tv, checking stuff on our laptops and chit-chatting until she no longer could keep her eyelids open and went to bed. Since I was sharing a room with the soon to be 6 year old, I waited a tad bit longer to go to bed until I knew for sure he was in a deep sleep. I crept upstairs, changed my clothes and completed my nightly rituals of a face wash and teeth brushing. I tip-toed back into his bedroom to find him AWAKE at midnight. I reminded him that his birthday was not until the sun woke up and that he needed to go back to sleep- half delirious he started telling Ryan and I about his new bowling game, and his bed set and somewhere between this is my....he drifted back to sleep. We snuggled into our bed on the floor- too tired and lazy to blow up the air mattress and just when it seems we feel asleep it was 5am and someone once again was checking to see if it was his birthday. "Nope, not yet-it's still very dark out." In reality, what I was thinking was PLEASE be very dark out because my eyes feel like they have 50lb weights on them and I am not ready to be chipper. Just when I fell back into a deep sleep, it was 7am and he's up the sun is up and I have no more excuses to keep him in bed any longer so I joyfully cheer, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" and that's how we started our exciting day for Issy's 6th birthday.
We went to playworld, got ice cream at the junction, came back and had a cookout, sang happy birthday and enjoyed a declicious dirt cake!

Today is Israel's birthday party- he's excited to share his joy with all his cousins. We are parting like monsters with our Monsters vs. Aliens party theme!
xoxo-
Vanessa :)