How a pirate celebrates his birthday

Will's birthday theme this year was "Pirates." Obviously. He asked for a birthday cake that was two pirate ships shooting at each other. At first, I said, "Yeah right." But then Will's brilliant Aunt Vicky found a recipe for a pirate ship made out of rice krispie treats so with an extra box of cocoa krispies in hand, we were able to oblige the birthday boy's wish. This masterpiece took way too many hours and looked a lot easier in the book but the birthday boy seemed pleased and I have yet to eat a bad rice krispie treat so all in all we can call it a success. Will's party was held at a local community center that featured an inflatable slide and a bouncy house thing that tired everyone out. Many of the other kids showed up in pirate costumes and when they weren't busy racing up and down the slide, a few sword fights broke out. Reina had a much better time than is reflected in this picture. She just takes her crafting very seriously. The night before Will's party, Aunt Vicky and Uncle Matt brought Will's present over. It's a fancy battery operated gun with a bird that flies in the air and you can shoot it. Will was pretty psyched. As was Glenn.

Paying close attention to Uncle Matt....When he finally came inside for the night, Will (in a serious tone) told us that he has to practice so that he can be a good hunter. I think Glenn might have cried.

Finally, the birthday morning dawned bright and early. Will woke up and remembered it was his big day. We opened presents before breakfast and he was pretty excited about his gifts.
He'd been asking for a spyglass for a while and he put it too good use after school. For the record, this is his standard pirate outfit. I'm not sure why he wears the hood under the hat, but you can also see a gun and Reina's cake cutter in the holster. He likes to pretend that the cake cutter is a knife. Yeah I know.
Pop-pop and Grandma Hansen came over that evening and brought with them the grand finale of birthday presents, his very own pirate ship. He calls it the Black Pearl but it's actually Queen Anne's Revenge. I'm not going to quibble with a pirate-obsessed 5-yr old, he can call it whatever he wants. It took the grown-ups a little too long to set it up but since that night, he carries it up and down the stairs, would take it to church if we let him and plays with it in every spare moment.
It's a great time to be 5.