My hooligan turns 6

Here at the House of Crackers, December is not only filled with Christmas cheer, it is also chocked full of birthday celebrations. My sister, two of my nieces, 5 of our neighborhood friends and my own hooligan C all celebrate their birthdays within 2 weeks of Christmas. I must say, it makes for a more stressful and expensive fun holiday season!

Today is C's birthday - my baby boy turned 6! We had a small family party featuring his favorite meal - spaghetti & meatballs. We'll have the party for his friends in a couple of weeks after everyone recovers from their post holiday hang-overs. C wants a Star Wars theme this year & he wants to have the party at home. He has become quite the homebody lately. There was nothing myself or Mr. Crackers could say or do to entice him into having his party at another venue where less damage would be inflicted on our house. So now I am trying to figure out what I can do to keep 6-8 boys his age happy and entertained without destroying the place. I am currently having nightmares about arming 6 boys with inflatable lightsabers. I'm not there yet, thank goodness I still have about 2 weeks to figure out a plan. Any ideas?

Anyway, in honor of C's birthday today, I thought I'd share 6 pictures with you. One from every year.

Here he is at about 4 months old. Those blocks saw a lot of action...

This one was taken in October 2004 - he was about 21 months old (just shy of 2)

Here he is breaking in the new playset that Mr. Crackers built for him. He's just shy of 2 1/2 here.

I have always loved this one. Summer 2006 at the beach on St. Georges Island, Florida

This one was taken in 2007 at the Children's Museum in Indianapolis.

November 2008 in our front yard playing in the leaves (still in his school uniform). All of his smiles lately have been the open mouth kind to better show off those missing bottom teeth.

I can't believe how big he's gotten. Sometimes it feels like just a moment ago he was still in diapers. Happy Birthday C! May the force be with you.