Boyhood is the longest time in life for a boy

There are really about eight hundred sixty five thousand reasons I love being a mother. Today I give you reason #2341: Preparing for a birthday party.

Nathan turns 6 two weeks from tomorrow. We're planning a train-themed birthday for family, cousins and many of our friends from school. This will be the first year where we've had Nathan's friends from school attend our party. He's picked out about a dozen kids he wants to invite and our plan is to do pizzas and an ice cream cake. I've been looking up ideas for birthdays and I've seen some ideas that I really love. For one, I'll be drawing, with a little help from TrackMaster Nathan, some train tracks all around the outside of the house leading in. There will be his railroad crossing sign* out front to let people in and out. And of course, the games. Ohhhhh games. We'll be doing Sir Topham Hatt says (think Simon Says), musical trains and a train-ey relay race. Goodiebags will include whistles, train "tickets" and stickers. There may or may not be a Thomas pinata and there will definitely be a pin-the-caboose on Thomas. I don't think there's ever really a way to capture how much I appreciate and treasure and cherish the all-boy nature of my son.

*Many moons ago, Nathan's daddy made him his own railroad crossing signal, complete with movable arm. Originally it was made out of paper. When that one fell apart due to LOTS of playtime, Michael built him a wooden one. This earns his Daddy many many points on the Coolest Dad Ever-O-Tron.

“Oh, for boyhood's painless play, sleep that wakes in laughing day, health that mocks the doctor's rules, knowledge never learned of schools.”
--John Greenleaf Whittier