Sweet Baboo is an Old Man Now

Yesterday, Zeke turned FIVE!  How has this first boychild of ours been here so long?  Ezekiel smooches me over and over again at night and snuggles under the covers in the good morning.  He's a boy of a boy and scraps to hold his own, but now that there's a younger boy for comparison, I realize that Zeke's nature is unusually sweet at times.  I'll enjoy it while it lasts, because one day the soap beard he sprouts in the bathtub will be the Real Deal, and his tenderness will take other forms.

Annika woke up early and decorated a book-reading nook and the kitchen for him.  Aidan woke up first, though, and got to revel in it.

True to her word, she read him five books for his fifth birthday while a few bedheaded book-moochers listened in.

Birthday breakfast!   Sausage, berry shake, and Swedish pancakes!

The funny thing about Swedish pancakes is that a flat stack of about 18 has a dozen eggs, four cups of milk, and 3 cups of flour.  They pull off dense and delicate at the same time.

Happy candle day!

He couldn't wait for the jam and syrup to reach the table and spread shake on his first pancake instead.  Good enough.  (More birthday pictures to come.  Zeke wanted to wait until my Mom arrived home to have his birthday cake and presents from us, and we have a day still to go.)

p.s. His birthday supper was a light and healthy balance to the breakfast-- homemade pepperoni pizza, soda, and buffalo wings.  On birthdays, we have digestive systems of steel in this house.  (At least I baked them instead of deep-frying, though, right?)