Clyde's Birthday Dinner

Clyde NEARLY always picks Japanese for his birthday dinner.

This year had its issues.  We went to Kampai, but  they wouldn't let Lucy eat the food we had brought from an outside restaurant (we have NEVER had this be an issue before) even after we explained that she had food allergies and couldn't eat there.  Stephen stated if his daughter couldn't eat there, then he wouldn't...we all then left (this after waiting a while for a table, waiting at the table, then ordering drinks...all with Lucy's food in clear sight.)  So they lost a party of nine.  And we were SO hungry.

But then we went to Shogun and had a FABulous time!! The girls are terrified of "fire restaurants", but Clyde absorbs every minute of it.  He loves everything about it.

The goldfish...

The cooking...

The soup...

The rest of the food....

Okay, so he likes this part ALOT...

Telling Nina how wonderful the food is...

 The fact that we now have our token family member who eats sushi....

 

And THEN  they started playing a drum and brought him a HUGE plate of fruit and some very nice souvenir chopsticks "that I really get to keep."

 Then he opened gifts....

Super Villain silly bandz from Iris...

these weird fuzzy worm things that are kind of like a magic trick, from Lucy....

gymnastics lessons from Sherry and David....

Marble Mania from Mom and Paul...

and a nerf gun from Mommy and Daddy....

 

 and once again, fun was had by all.

Seven Silly Lovely Years with Clyde Joseph

To my sweet child who was born with pointy ears...like Yoda,

How I thank God for you.  You will just never know, till you have a precious, precious baby boy yourself. 

Just so you know, your name caused much controversy....I hope you continue to love it.  We love it and we love YOU.  I guess it's a good sign that you named your fish Clyde-clyde, your praying mantis Little Clyde and the goat we rescued Clyde Joseph...  Your great-grandfather, Clyde, was a precious man.  He was delighted to know you were coming.  I'm very sorry you didn't get to meet him.

You were the cuddliest baby boy around.  I always adored the way your forehead wrinkled up.  You were always hungry.  ALWAYS.  But you didn't like taking the time to eat.  But if we dared to stop the flow of food you screamed like a banshee.  You seemed to expect to have food flowing down your throat while you continued to perform all your explorations.

I thought for awhile, that you were an angry toddler.  I felt so sad for you and didn't know how to help you, but apparently it was just frustration bubbling over from not being able to talk til you were 3 1/2 years old.

But when you talked...you really talked.  And your only volume was MAX.

You weren't much for toys when you were small, you were mainly drawn to wires, metal and outlets.

If you were missing, I would be sure to find you in a garbage can or cabinet somewhere.

Something that I always cherished was how fiercely protective you were of your sisters...like when you pushed a boy down who was twice your size, because he was teasing your big sister.  Or when you chased that dog away with a bat after it licked your new baby sister on the head.  And you were only two.   And you couldn't talk.  But you loved those girls SO much!

I've never seen a body move so much.  So many of my pictures of you are filled with a blur.  You are the blur.  Always moving.

You ooze happiness.  A more playful kid I've never met.  You never cease to make me laugh.  Like when you were constantly filling the toilets and garbage cans with toilet paper, even though you were ALWAYS punished.  The way you practically LIVED with one of 3 stuffed snakes around your neck for 3 years NO MATTER where we went.  How many times did I call poison control????  Oh my.  You are fearless, my little roller-coaster rider.  Although I did accidentally find your fear.   You turned out to be terribly afraid of blue-female-changelings.  Like the one in Star Wars episode 2.  Sorry about that.  And then I forgot about that and let you see a clip of Mistique from X-men.  Sorry about that, too!

You have such a fierce love in your heart, like I've never seen in a child.  I've witnessed you cry so many times after you heard about something sad happening to a loved one.  Even if it wasn't THAT sad.  Even if it was 40 years ago and THEY didn't care about it.  Your heart is so tender.

You have such a deep capacity to forgive.  You never hesitate in your willingness to forgive and forget.  You quickly come to the defense of those who have wronged you.  You love others so much, and will pain yourself, to give others what they want.  I don't understand this in someone so young.  You humble me. 

I suppose it's because of how deeply you love those around you, that you dole out the compliments so much.  I never realized how much I loved being complimented til I got to hear your sweet voice always telling me how beautiful I am, how I'm the best Mommy ever.  You sense when your Daddy is down and you are the first to encourage him.  You give your sisters more confidence.  You are amazing.  And most people who are around you, probably don't even know it. But those of us who REALLY know you, have a richness and joy in our hearts that you have brought to us.

You bring a zest to our lives, Clydie Monster.  You are indeed the BEST BOY IN THE WORLD!

 

 Thank God, He made you.  I can't imagine life without you.

Boot Camp Clyde

Boot Camp Clyde was deserted this morning, with only two senior officers and one lone soldier waiting impatiently.

Pretty soon the soldiers started rolling in, all dressed in camoflage.  They just went nuts  playing with one another for quite awhile, before we rounded them up for the obstacle course.

It went like this:
    Each team will have five objectives, as soon as a team finishes one objective, they may proceed to the next and complete all five.  They do not have to wait on the other team.

We divided them into 2 teams, but since we had an odd number, we just guessed that McKellan was as strong as 2 boys, since he kept telling us he was.  And guess what?  He was.  Clyde, Drew and Logan were on one team, McKellan and Will were on the other.

objective 1- race to bottom of hill and dig in the leave until you find a bottle buried containing your    teams dog tags

objective 2 - race to side of barracks where you will pick up a marshmallow blow gun and each team will shoot down 4 cans, each team member must shoot down at least one

objective 3 - race to front of barracks where you will find planks and landscape bricks.  your team will work together to pick up and carry one plank and two bricks across yard and driveway where you will build a balance beam together

objective 4- you must retrieve a bottle hanging in the air using nothing but yourselves and each other

objective 5 - tug of war

  

Then they played tug-of-war against Stephen....course he let them win :)

then they got Hero medals for their mad skilz...

Later we had cake and barbecue and we opened presents.

During dinner Will explained to us in a baffled voice that you are not supposed to call your teacher 'stupidhead'.  He was definitely our dinner entertainment.  He kept the boys rolling with laughter with his stories and science information.

McKellan hugged Stephen spontaneously and said, "It's been so long since I had a good play date!"

 Will took this picture.

McKellan took this one.

Then they went outside to build a fire and roast marshmallows...didn't get a picture, cause by this point I wimped out and went inside.

Then they came in...played like wild animals for awhile, got ready for bed, played like wild animals some more and now they are IN bed whispering like cuties.

Drew and Logan hugged me back when I gave them night kisses and told me,"I love you, too."

More fun quotes from the evening:

Will- "As a police officer director of McKellan, I have come to tell you something" (This after he got out of bed...I'm still not sure if he was using McKellan as an excuse or if McKellan really sent him to do his dirty work ;)

Also Will- "look at my butt"
         Me - "is something wrong with it?"
         Will- "no, of course not, but it glows in the dark"
         Me- laughing "go back to bed"

Conversation between us and McKellan after bedtime,
       Me- 'Is your throat feeling better now, kiddo'
       McKellan- 'kiddo'
       Me- 'Yeah, I always liked it when people called me kiddo'
       McKellan- 'I don't like it'
       Me- 'well then I'll just call you McKellan'
       Stephen- 'when I was little they called me Stephen'
       McKellan- 'did you ever get used to it?'
       Us- hysterical laughing
       McKellan- very serious face looking at us like we've lost our collective minds

We have had a hysterical night.  Thank you ladies for letting us borrow your sweet boys!!!