Pirates and Ninjas and Storm Troopers- Oh, My!

Here's our big four year old with some birthday treasure. He had a really great big day. Just a regular day at home (except I did take him and Ju to a park, where it was as hot as the Sahara, and I was fully reminded why we don't go to parks during the day!), and we had a family party at night. He wanted pancakes for supper and a ninja cake....

Here's what Tim came up with, red sparkly hot pants and all. Actually, Asa's request was "a ninja with a light saber practicing fighting". Nice work, Timbo!

Our sweet little man wanted to invite two of his grown up friends from church, so Yu (above) and Pat (below) came to celebrate with us. He's holding the awesome sword that Yu gave him. And do you see the ring on her hand? Asa made that for her as a party favor, with some materials out of a craft box. Oh my, he's so cute.

A very tired little pirate staying up for the party.

This was my favorite gift he received. Emmy wanted to get him Star Wars legos (he's fascinated with Star Wars, despite the fact that he's never laid eyes on the movies), but it just wasn't feasible for her seeing as how they cost an arm and a leg here. So we came up with the plan for her to make him a Star Wars coloring book, and it's really great, completely homegrown. He loved it!

What's really fun about this is that she did it all from memory of pictures she's seen, having never seen the movies, either.

In other Big Boy News, 4 years old has meant the beginning of a preschool co-op! Here he is on the first day, learning about the letter A, with my friend Lisa taking her turn as teacher.

And here's the whole co-op crew. They range in age from 3-5, and hail from New Zealand, Australia, the U.S., Sweden and Canada. This is a great blessing for us to get to be a part of. When I asked Asa how his first day was, his exact words were, "I thought it would be really, really boring, but it was really, really, REALLY FUN!"

My recent birthday had me pondering scripture on perseverance. Thinking of how as a happily engaged college student, I tended to think of our wedding, being young and married, having little babies...but having second graders and being in our 30's was not so much on my mind. It's a good time, a time of realization of the fleeting nature of the days, a time to persevere in and savor the now, and to seek to look forward to all that's ahead. And it was a really yummy, albeit a bit wobbly, cake!