Cowen's 5th Birthday

The Cake.

Cowen wanted crossed swords. That was pretty easy except finding something big enough for the finished product. Timothy eventually covered a bookshelf with tinfoil and called that good. If I'd thought about it earlier I could have bought a really large box and cut off one side. But I didn't think about it. So the swords are a little closer together than ideal. Still--I think Timothy did a great job cutting it out and fitting it on the shelf.

Cowen loved the end result. The icing was very much grey and not green. I'm not sure why it looks so green in the pictures. Since I didn't know how to make a fancy fencing type sword, I tried for a working man's (Ranger's) type sword.

The Presents.

Life would not be complete without a nerf sword. At least, Timothy and Cowen don't think so.

This rifle is awesome. One Friday, Timothy got home from work and said, "Let's get a babysitter and make Cowen a rifle." You see, Cowen kept asking for a rifle but the only decent ones we could find were online and over $30. Not happening. I'd looked at junky Wal-Mart guns, but I knew they would just fall apart. Despite Cowen begging for a rifle, we'd decided not to get him one.

Then Timothy decided to make one.

We spent an hour and $10 at Lowe's and an hour at Timothy's grandpa's shop. Voila!

I desperately want one of my own.

The Outings.

At noon, Grandpa Jack showed up at the door to take Cowen on a manly outing. To Ream's. For boots. His old ones were more hole than boot. Cowen was thrilled--even though at first he was disappointed when I told him that "fun outing" didn't equal "chores." The boy loves, more than anything, doing chores with Grandpa. He sure had a great time on his outing, though, and he's pretty much in love with his boots.

Grandma Beckie came the next night and took him to Carter's for a new outfit. Pretty snazzy. He also got a Star Wars prize in his kid's meal. I'm pretty sure that's a highlight of his life.

Grandma also let him get a tattoo. Doesn't he look big and tough???

The Nostalgia.

Can you believe that when I started this blog, Cowen looked like this?

My roly-poly bear cub is tall now. And skinny. And he speaks English.

But I remember when he was chubby, and spoke Cowenese, and crumpled to the ground in bursts of hysterical giggling. Well . . . some things haven't changed. He still falls to the ground in a fit of giggling (manly giggling, of course) if I so much as wiggle my fingers like I might think about tickling him.

Cowen is a lot of fun.

Five Year Old Favs:
Color: Red
Movie: Star Wars and Man from Snowy River and the fencing scene in Princess Bride
Song: Batman (I know it's not really a song, but he has me sing na na na na na BATMAN five times every night)
Book: anything with a horse or George Washington
Heroes: Grandpa Jack, George Washington, Captain Moroni
Playmates: Miriam, Emeline, Eli, Hailey, Anders, Myles
Food: homemade mac and cheese and shake and bake chicken legs
Dessert: apple pie
Activity: sword fighting with his dad
Animal: horse and cheetah

How I know he's a smarty pants? We were at Wal-mart the other day and one of the employees was using a machine to gather up a hugely long line of carts to push to the store. Cowen said, "I wonder what simple machines are in that machine. I bet Dad would know."

My favorite things about Cowen:
1) he always says a big "thank you" when you do anything for him--even really small things
2) he always encourages everyone else--for example, he says "great job!" to his siblings all the time
3) he's very obedient
4) he loves to work
5) he loves to be tickled
6) and he loves to laugh

Happy 5th birthday, Little Buddy. We sure do love you!