Charlie Turns Six!!

We kicked off Charlie's birthday celebrations with a special visit to his classroom! Charlie shared cake with his classmates, and introduced his baby sister -- the very best kind of show-and-tell there is. He felt very important! It happened to be "dress up like a fairytale character day," so the morning was extra festive – Charlie was a knight, Bitsy and I were matching Little Red Riding Hoods, John was the Big Bad Wolf, and Rob even snuck out of the office to celebrate our little guy. The class performed a Sleeping Beauty song for us -- Charlie was Prince Charming and his friend Charlottte was the princess!

Charlie's real birthday was during Carnival vacation from school. He woke up to balloons in his bedroom and birthday toast (peanut butter and jelly with sprinkles and a candle on top). We had a blast opening the generous gifts, cards and emails that Charlie received in the mail, then we went to Zigzag, an indoor playground, as soon as the doors opened. That afternoon I took Charlie to the grocery store and let him pick out whatever he wanted… sushi, pizza and juice boxes for dinner. We baked the cake that Poppa and Ning sent in the mail and had a fun celebration for dessert.

Birthday toast with sprinkles!

And at last, we had Charlie's birthday party with his friends here at the house as soon as school resumed. Charlie chose a police Lego theme! Seventeen kids, a fabulous Lego cake (thanks to a friend who just started a business), dangling donuts and....a marching band! Our doorbell rang mid-party and there was literally a uniformed, fundraising band playing Luxembourgish tunes, so we handed them 10 Euros and invited them right into the living room to play for the kids.

A band dropped by to play for the birthday boy!

Everyone decorated a Lego picture, and the kids built creations from a Lego grab bag. Then we rolled a giant disposable tablecloth out in the floor and whipped hot dogs out to the kids. The kids were from all over the world -- Madeline, Charlie and John are having a remarkably international experience through their school. Our Italian neighbors, Emma and Alberto, came to help us wrangle the kids.

Dangling donuts!

And then, all was quiet. Our five year old was six. Sweet Charlie, who burst onto the scene fist-first like a real-life Superman, saving the world, fighting the bad guys and brimming with contagious enthusiasm. He is endlessly affectionate and generous. He let his John unwrap some of his birthday presents. I will never forget last summer as we were leaving tennis lessons -- I was corraling everyone to the car, and I looked back over my shoulder to see Charlie pushing the bike of a little girl he had never met, who was struggling in rough gravel, and animatedly chatting her up as they walked.

Charlie, kid, you make life fun. We ALL love you so much!