Niko is 6!

Our Niko is 6!!! Well, he's actually been 6 for about a month now, but I have been hiding from my blog again, so this is the first you're hearing about it. 

Niko's birthday was on a weekday so we had a rockin' Batman birthday party for him a few days later, on a Saturday. 

I made him a fun Batman cake (cheap black fondant for the win!):

And simple batman cupcakes, to make sure there was enough cake for everyone:

I had a fun time making snacks for the party too--if you zoom in you can see there is catwoman chow (muddy buddies), poison ivy's garden, bat signal brownies, etc. Yay for the internet's great ideas, repurposed as my own!

We had a pretty great crowd for his birthday, and they were great sports for all of the silly activities we planned. First up: batplane paper airplanes.

And Mr Freeze freeze dance!

Then we tied up the Riddler with streamers (this was huge fun and a huge mess, but so worth it), after which the Riddler revealed that he had hidden Niko's birthday cake, and the kids had to go on a treasure hunt to find it.

The cake consumption and the streamer aftermath:

We requested friend-made cards this year instead of presents, and it was SO GREAT. I mean, I really wanted people to feel like they didn't have to bring a gift to come to his birthday, because A) if your kid has a bunch of friends that gets expensive fast and B) does he really need more toys?? And having his friends make cards turned out to be SUPER adorable.

Here's one that says, "I'll be your friend forever, even when I'm DEAD!!! From, Ray."

And we got some awesome Batman cards too, like this one with a maze to the batcave (Niko loves mazes!)

Finally, I had Niko answer some questions about himself, at age 6! (answers in bold)

1) How old are you? 6

2) What's your favorite show? Batman. (Not that he watches any batman shows, but you know)

3) What's your favorite thing about school? Gym. Why? Because I get to run around and I never get to do that at school. 

4) What are you good at? Making stuff. What kind of stuff? Art. 

5) If you could change your name, what would it be? Blue Goo. Because it's my favorite color. 

6) What's your favorite color? Blue. 

7) What's your favorite toy? Pooh Bear.

8) What do you want to be when you get older? Batman.

9) What do you like to take to bed at night? Pooh Bear.

10) What is your favorite book? Betty Goes Bananas and Please Mr. Panda.

11) What's your favorite movie? Lego Batman Movie. 

12) What's your favorite season? Winter. Why? Because I like to make snowmans and have a snowball fight. Also summer because I get to wear short sleeve shirts and eat ice cream.

13) What food do you really like? McDonalds. And pizza.

14) What's your favorite sport? Soccer. Why? Kick a ball.

15) What's your favorite holiday? Halloween. Why? I get to wear a scary costume.

16) What is your favorite thing you did this year? Birthday party. 

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Nikolai at 6 is his best self yet. He is endlessly creative, wise, energetic, strong-willed, smart, and fun. He is doing amazing at school (learning to read by leaps and bounds and working on 1st grade math), loves to be creative and make things, and is looking forward to soccer starting up again in the spring. He is a vibrant, interesting little kid and we're so glad we're part of his life!