Frenzy

Zach's birthday yesterday was...[searching for the best single word to describe the day]...exuberant. We went from event to event, each one as happy as the next. Was it happy because it was all fun stuff, or because he just happens to be a very happy kid to begin with? Hmmm...Decisions, decisions...

The day began with the Cooking of the Pancakes, followed by the Opening of the Presents - one of the first of which was a large fluffy Angry Bird, which is a new house favorite. (Zach has declared that the bird, named RedBird SuperBird TreeBird, will be celebrating its birthday on Monday.)

Next he had a grand time opening all of the trains and tracks from Helena and Antonia, as well as the cooking package from Mom and Dad. Each of the little utensils was individually wrapped, making for a present-opening, wrapping-paper frenzy.

Zach's pizza party was a fast-paced thrill. Zach was adamant that he only wanted his four best friends there (one couldn't make it), and as it turned out, the group was a perfect size. The kids (including Luke and Zach's friend's 7-year-old brother) 1) decorated their pizza boxes; 2) made their own pizzas; 3) decorated their own aprons while the pizza was cooking; 4) ate the pizzas; and 5) decorated their own cupcakes with a sugar-induced frenzy of M&Ms, gummy worms, and gummy bears. Do you think a bunch of four-year-olds had a good time? Uh, yeah.

Then we went home, and after we opened some more presents, Luke helped Zach build his new Lego Toy Story train. Let's put that another way: Luke had fun, because he was building a Lego, and Zach had fun, because someone was building a train for him. Pretty sneaky, eh?

Overwhelmed by all of the thrills and chills, Zach conked out beyond comprehension on the drive down to the deli for dinner with the family. It was only the gentle wafting of the smell of matzoh ball soup that finally stirred him back awake. And then, when he realized that he had more cake and more presents in his future, he bounded back to life.

At Grandma Bobbie and Granddad's, he happily chowed down on M&M chocolate cake, and then had fun opening even more presents. Zach is now the proud owner of a new space shuttle and a new "laptop computer" which somehow gives kids the ability to blog. So I'll be hanging up my hat here soon, and you can expect to be hearing more from Zach in this space from time to time. Hope you like reading about trains.

I love you, my sweet, curly-haired four-year-old boy.