We say "happy", you say "birthday!"

Today, Aiden went to his very first Kindergarden birthday party.. Big deal, right? Apparently, a big enough deal to get a hair cut, brush his teeth extra long, and wear his very best clothes.

Luckily for me, Ryan tagged along.

First to the mall (for the haircut), then back to the hotel, to Lowe's (to look at flooring) and even to Chuck E. Cheese for the most claustrophobia-inducing party we've ever attended. But like Ryan said... "Aiden, I haven't been to Chuck E. Cheese in twice as many years as you are old." And so, to Chuck E. Cheese we went.

Apparently, my mother finds it innapropriate that Aiden's butt is showing in this picture.
Me? Well, I think it's cute so the photo's staying.
My apologies if you happen to be offended by baby butts.

It seems as though Ryan and Aiden are getting closer by the second. I remember Ryan's looks of embarassment as Aiden threw crayons at Friendly's but now? Now they race around Lowe's and make plans to ditch me as soon as possible. Real cool, boys.. Real cool.

As an elementary-kid, I was one of the "lucky" ones with a Chuck E. Cheese party, complete with a mermaid themed cake. Aiden will never be one of those kids. Maybe we've all just grown or the novelty of Chuck E Cheese has worn off but I don't remember ever seeing so many children/parents/employees shoved into a play place, arcade and party area.

In ways though, the "place where a kid can be a kid" has grown up with us. For instance, green screen technology makes for the best, zebra-print dance parties. And the music choices? Miley Cyrus, Party in the USA. And you can't forget Chuck E. teaching kids the Cupid Shuffle.

Like his big sister, Aiden always prefers to be behind the camera. He spends much of his time taking iPhone photos, video taping things (or more likely.. absolutely nothing) and today proved my point. Aiden wanted nothing to do with starring on TV like the other fives and sixes around him.

That is, until Gwen grabbed him as hard as she could and drug him to dance.

Despite the change in age, I'm almost positive that there is still no better pizza.. says the gluten-free girl. I drooled for an hour over the pizza, the Princess and the Frog cake, and the icecream cups. I snuck some icing, inhaled some vanilla icecream (oops?), sipped my soda and told myself that getting sick wasn't worth a slice of that pizza.

I have a feeling that I was quite wrong - the birthday girl was loving it.

In the end (despite the crowds), we saw Chuck E, we laughed at Halie's hurricane of tickets, we made a bad deal at Deal or No Deal, we won tickets and cashed them in, and we yelled "Happy" and "Birthday" as loud as we could.

But most importantly, we had fun.