counting down 2/25/13

This weekend we got the heck out of dodge beginning on Friday.  Jim and I escaped to the rainy, soggy beach while the boys escaped to their grandparents' - but not before we took care of some birthday business.  Because he's one of the lucky ones to have been born in the dead of Winter and because we're running out of boy-appropriate birthday options for this time of year, we've decided to let Jake choose six places he'd like to go, and he'll open six gifts total from us (he's already gotten two - we're spacing them out a little just to make the fun last and last)...all to celebrate the big six.

We all took the day off from work and school on Friday; and after we fulfilled our appointment with a photographer I still use in Montgomery (even though he's two hours away) and a quick trip to PetSmart (one of his "six") to get something for his hamster (I'll do my best to get pictures soon and formally "introduce" him.  That sucker is fast.), we all went to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch (also one of his "six).

This time around, Jake and I found the best game for racking up a ton of tickets.  We were winning anywhere from one to forty with just one token.  By the time he had run out of tokens to spend, he had enough tickets to get a ball for Parker (a nice, big one), two bracelets and a ring for his cousin, Emily, and enough candy for all of them to share.  By the way, I love his giving heart - whether it's Build-A-Bucks at church, dollar bills at Target, or tickets at Chuck E. Cheese, he always thinks of others and uses his earnings to gift something to someone else.  I have to put my hand over my chest just thinking about it. 

Since we were about ten days out, he's been asking me to count down the days until his actual birthday with him.  Only two more to go.  I simply can't grasp it...six.