Dear Carson, On Your Fifth Birthday

Dear Carson,

You have been over the top excited about your birthday this year. You are thrilled to be turning 5. And I love to watch your enthusiasm because it just fills your entire little body. You are exuberant when you are happy-- it lights up your whole face, you jump and dance and wiggle around and just glow.

Every year I am a little sad around your birthday; because you are the baby of the family and it is a little hard for me to watch you grow up and not start thinking about your "lasts." (Like yesterday was your last day of preschool and I was kind of a wreck). But, I also love every single minute of seeing how you have changed and grown over this last year.

You are hilarious. I have written down so many quotes of things you have said over the last year. I call your Grandmama almost daily to share the funny things you say and do. You make me laugh all. the. time.

You have an enormous imagination. I love to listen to you play independently with your toys. You create these elaborate story lines with characters and dialog and so many details. You assign names to almost every thing you come across-- toys, rocks, trees, pillows, blankets, bugs-- literally everything has a name. But your very favorite toys are Puppy and Jumpy. You sleep with them every night, include them in your games, and in general, take very good care of your special friends.

You ADORE your Daddy. You love me too, for sure. You tell me all day long that you love me "super much," and you like to sleep snuggled up beside me. But you have a special closeness with your dad. You love to "fight" with him, and visiting him at work is one of your favorite things to do.

You loved school this year and did so well, both academically and socially. You get along with everyone and are consistently kind to others. You name every single person in your class as one of your friends. Your teachers have so many sweet things to say about you and your daddy and I are SO proud of how you behave when you are away from us.

You still have a pretty large dose of stubbornness and defiance in you :) You are usually easy-going and affable, but there are times when you are absolutely impossible. If you do not get your way you can be insane. We will look back on it one day and laugh about your stubbornness-- but for now you keep things just a little bit wild. You struggle to listen and follow directions if it goes against something that you really want to do, but we're working on it.

You love to hug and kiss and be held. You like to sleep super close and snuggled up. You love going to church and school but you also really like being home with me and Carver and Daddy. You make friends everywhere you go and you will talk to anyone. You like to ask questions and meet new people and you have joy that is just infectious.

The best part of this last year has been your growing interest in God, and Jesus, and salvation. You ask so many good questions and you already have such faith and love for Jesus. You have a heart for Jesus, I can see it already. You are seeking for sure and I can't wait to see how you continue to grow this year. I am convinced that God will use you in mighty ways.

This year the word I am praying over you is compassion. Not because you struggle with this, but rather because I think it is one of your very best qualities and I hope it continues to grow in you. You care so much about others. You love me so well. You are an encourager to everyone-- you tell me, or Carver, or Daddy, every time we do something good or well. You are a cheerleader and have a genuine love of people. This is such an incredible character trait. I pray that you will continue to be compassionate, that your heart stays gentle, and that you never stop your exuberance for life and the kindness you show to all people.

You are gift. The absolute best kind of gift and I am so incredibly thankful for you. When I look at you my heart is FULL to the brim with love. You encompass so much of what is good in the world and you give me such hope for the future. I pray that you grow and learn and seek more and more about life this year. That, above all else, you know and love Jesus.

You are so loved. By me and Daddy. Carver and your "big" and "little" cousins. By Grandmama and Granddaddy and Nana and Papa. By Uncle Lyle, Aunt Courtney and Uncle Michael and Julia. And even by my friends-- who all love you too. You are exceptionally special and our family-- immediate and extended-- is so blessed by you.

Happy Birthday Carson!

I love you to the moon and back a thousand times over.

Love,
Mama

Family Time!

This is the first year that Daniel, the boys, and I were alone on Christmas morning. It is also the first year that  I didn't see my parents at Christmas-- which was really disappointing. We all missed them and Christmas just wasn't quite the same this year. Luckily, I am flying down with the boys in a couple of weeks so we will get to see them then.

After Christmas we stayed at Daniel's parent's house for a night and then Daniel had to head home to work. The boys and I headed up to visit Courtney's family in Towson, and to break up the drive some we stopped over at Lyle's house in Virginia. It was quiet and a little sad being there without Lyle. But I was able to check on his place and the boys had fun playing with some of their cousins' toys :)

He refused to go to bed without me. Then he fell asleep on the couch at Uncle Lyle's house.

We left on Tuesday morning (Dec. 27th) and made the 4 hour drive up to Courtney's house. The drive went well and the boys were anxious to arrive but fairly entertained by their new DVDs.

We stopped at Wegman's for lunch. Wegman's is basically the Disney World of grocery stores. I am obsessed.

We got to Courtney's house just in time for dinner.

(I need the recipe for that salad dressing sis!)

We had a lot of time to just hang out at the house-- which the kids loved. And it was nice to just hang out without a real agenda.

These two played SO WELL together. Carson paid a lot of attention to Reagan on this trip.

Carver loved playing with the cousins and harassing Alex.

On Wednesday we headed out to Build-a-Bear. Grandmama got Carver (and Carson) gift cards for Carver's birthday, and all of the girls had gift cards to use as well. It made it extra fun for them that they were able to do it together.

The whole crew. Julia is such a good sport. 

On Thursday we went to Ikea. Because I love and adore Ikea and I rarely get to go. Seriously, I love Ikea. And Ikea on a quiet weekday morning is basically my happy place.

On Friday we went to lunch at Nalley Fresh and then went to the movies. "Sing!" was a big hit :)

Courtney gives the best gifts. Two ornaments to represent my sweet girls.

We left Courtney's on Saturday after lunch to head back to Lyle's and then home. The boys loved riding their Big Wheels at Lyle's  house :) 

Carver's 7th Birthday: Minecraft Party!

It's no secret that I love party planning. It is unfortunate that both of my boys' birthdays come right at the end-of-semester rush when I am trying to finish out the Fall or Spring semester with my colleges. I always start planning a few weeks in advance, but every year I am reminded that I need more time if I want to execute these parties well :)

Each year the boys have more and more of an opinion about the theme and activities of their parties. This is kind of helpful, and I like planning the party that they want...but I kind of miss the days when I could just choose whatever I wanted :)

Because this year, Carver wanted a minecraft party...and 1) minecraft is not cute, and 2) I know NOTHING about minecraft.

Thanks to Pinterest and Etsy, I was able to plan this minecraft party and I think it turned out fairly well. Sadly, when I have their parties at our house I am way too stressed to remember to take adequate pictures.

Cupcakes and favor bags. The bags had lego crayons in minecraft colors; a minecraft bracelet; and candy.

The kids table. 

Rice Krispie treats, minecraft-style :)

The first activity was using mod podge to decorate wooden treasure boxes with minecraft pixel paper. After the craft we played minecraft bingo with prizes. 

After the activities we had dinner. I ordered trays from Zaxbys and we had fruit with cream cheese dip, veggies and ranch, chips, buffalo chicken dip, little smokies in the crockpot, hummus with pita chips and olives, cheese and crackers, blue jello cups (to represent "water"), and rolls.

All in all, I was pleased with how the party turned out. I had more activities planned, but the kids just wanted to play-- and it was chaos. But Carver loved every single minute of it. We also had a number of friends of ours that came-- which made the whole evening that much better.

Carver's actual birthday was just a few days later and we had a small celebration that day too.

Pumpkin break for breakfast. 

Balloon-filled bedroom.

Mexican food for lunch.

And presents from family. With cake and ice cream. 

Carver's ginormous Darth Vader from Aunt Courtney (and crew).

It was a good day :)

And just like that, my oldest precious boy is 7!