In Which Fish Has a Birthday and Turns Six

I can't believe that intensely hot, sunny July day in Idaho where I was in labor for 19 very long hours was six years ago. It was an emotionally and physically exhausting day, but at the end of it I held in my arms one of the greatest people I have ever known.

He wanted breakfast for his birthday dinner. Pumpkin waffles, fluff eggs, and tater tots.

(When the Badger called from the store and asked what kind of potatos he should buy I asked Fish if he wanted hash browns or tater tots. "What are tater tots?" he asked. My reply was, "Give me some of your tots, Napoleon." "I want tots!" he proclaimed. So we had tots.)

He was very very happy with his presents. Cousin Howell gave him a Rubix cube and Bean gave him the game Connect Four.

And then there was his present from Mom and Dad. We didn't buy the boys as many birthday presents this year as we did last year because we're putting on a friend birthday party later in the week and those are expensive even when theyr'e cheap, but we made sure to get them each something they would really be excited about. For Fish, it was an archery set. He did his happy Fish dance, which is pretty rare but about the most spontaneously joyful thing I have ever seen.

And then we had cake. He wanted a submarine cake, so I did my best.

This will be the first of three submarine cakes I make this week. Bean wants one too and then they both want one for their friend party. I tried to get them to think of something else besides a submarine, but that was all they wanted. Oh well, at least I'll have two trial runs before the party!