3...2...1...Ignition...

...we have liftoff to planet birthday! On Friday night, we launched into the weekend with a birthday celebration for the Second Little Nguyen. Although his big day isn't until next week, my sister and her family were visiting from Colorado, so we thought we would get his party started a bit early so they could join in the fun! Along with Aunt Suzy and Uncle John, they helped him begin the fun-filled mission into Year 4 of his life!

Lately, the Second Little Nguyen has been asking questions about space and astronauts. He doesn't quite have the lingo down yet, so it's amusing to listen to him speak like an astronaut when he thinks no one is listening. For example, he was playing in his room the other day, and while I was walking by his room, I heard him say, "Come on, team, let's get to our space shuttle so we can put out the fire!" Alas, his first love with probably always be firefighting, but space exploration is certainly peaking his interest. We will have to enlighten him as to the correct vocabulary an astronaut would use: crew members, solid rocket boosters, orbiter, flight suit, space shuttle, gravity... Wait until he learns how astronauts use the restroom in space! I'm sure it's in one of those books he checked out from the library last week.

Several weeks ago, he decided he would like to be an astronaut for Halloween. I was so overjoyed, yet saddened at the same time, that, for the first time in 4 years, I would not have a fireman to dress for Halloween. The wheels in my head began to turn as I began thinking of how I was going to create an astronaut costume. Somehow, I couldn't get away from the notion of using chicken wire to shape a helmet, so I was slightly relieved when Aunt Suzy suggested she and Uncle John give the Second Little Nguyen a flight suit as a birthday gift. When he opened their gift, he was absolutely over the moon and wasted no time zipping himself into the suit. It fit perfectly and, with all of its zippers, buckles and patches, is amazingly authentic. Chi and I ordered the talking helmet to complete the ensemble, which was worth every penny. To see him rip open the box and place that big thing on his head was priceless. He even learned how to flip up the visor by himself!

So did Aunt Suzy and Mommy! (Oh, goodness....this is a horrific picture of me!!! I can't believe I am posting this!)

Uncle Phil and Aunt Becky gave the Second Little Nguyen a great marble racing set. We LOVE this toy because there are a thousand ways to put the racing towers together...it is a really imaginative toy. The First Little Nguyen has played with a set like this in his classroom at school, so he spent the weekend giving his little brother helpful tips about the engineering and construction of the towers. Ian and Hannah, the Little Nguyens' cousins, sat down and built a tower with the boys before dinner on Friday night, and they all had great fun racing their marbles to the bottom. The Second Little Nguyen did not feel the need to remove his flight suit for marble racing, but we did make him take it off before eating!

After dinner, Uncle Phil treated us to some frozen birthday custard from Goodberry's! Despite the rain outside, we all ventured out for our frozen concoctions with the Second Little Nguyen still dressed out in his flight suit! We brought our sweet treats home to eat and put four candles in his mint chocolate chip. After we sang "Happy Birthday" to him, he promptly made a wish and blew out the candles. After a few bites of his frozen birthday treat, he was off to play in galaxies far, far away. As we were all sitting around in the kitchen finishing our frozen custard, the Second Little Nguyen sailed through the kitchen in his helmet and flight suit. He stopped suddenly, flipped his visor up, and uttered probably the most hilarious thing I have ever heard him say: "My name is Thomas and I approved this message." He wasted no time in flipping his visor down and skyrocketing across the kitchen while the rest of us erupted in laughter! Message from Mission Control: when your little astronaut begins quoting political ads, you might need to turn off the TV! Anyway, when it came time to get ready for bed, the Second Little Nguyen was so tired and didn't mind putting on his pajamas. However, he really wanted to put the flight suit on over them! We convinced him that it might be better to leave them off until morning. With all of the zippers and buckles holding him into the suit, using the restroom in the middle of the night might have been quite a complicated mission for our almost-four-year-old astronaut!