Five Years

Yesterday my baby boy did the unthinkable and turned five years old.  I really have a love/hate relationship with my kids birthdays.  Nothing makes me happier than to see my kids grow and be healthy and happy, but I have panicky moments when I realize how fast their childhood is escaping me.  Yesterday I asked Cole what he wanted to do for his birthday and in true Cole form Mr. Low Maintenence just wanted to ride his horse.  Sometimes I feel like a big fat zero as a mom for not planning extravagent birthdays and such for my kids, but really I think they are just as happy with "simple" as I am. 

 I love to watch Cole ride his horse, he is gaining more and more confidence on her every day and it has gotten to where I can saddle her up and they help each other take turns riding.  I am also crossing my fingers that when it cools down a bit Cole will put some pants on to ride instead of his shorts!

After our horse rides we went to the park for about an hour while we waited for Weston to get home for lunch.  That is a treat in and of itself, and Cole was pretty excited to have his dad there with him while he opened his gift. 

 When we got done eating Cole asked if he could unwrap his gift  and I told him I hadn't wrapped it because it was kind of too big.  His response was "That's okay, I love no wrapping paper!"  I put it in a pillowcase (and once again felt like a poopy mom that I didn't even wrap his gift!)

 Cole was over the moon excited about what was in that mangy pillowcase though! He has wanted one of these for months! He has been practicing with his imaginary bow and arrows for a very long time now and I have loved watching him.  Yesterday he asked me a funny question that I think stemmed from that.  He asked "Is invisible real?" Think about that one! I wasn't real sure how to answer. 

 After a lengthy discussion on safety precautions and what we can and cannot shoot with those possibly too sharp of arrows, he was off to do some target practice!

 After a fun afternoon of shooting arrows with his cousins we came home and had pizza, cake and ice cream with the grandparents.  (Please don't judge, but you can laugh all you want at my attempt to make a sword cake) I really did try! I will chalk that up to the long list of things that I am basically terrible at!  Also don't mind how filthy and gross we all look, it's been hot and we played outside all day!

I also copied one of my sister's ideas and hung up a bunch of pictures of Cole the night before and he was pretty excited to see his face hanging all over the place on his birthday.  It was a fun tradition that I am going to start doing.  It also gave us a chance to tell him lots of stories about when he was a baby, and he asked a lot of questions about different pictures. 

One other thing that I have kind of done for the kids birthdays, is the night before when I tuck them into bed I like to tell them about the night before they were born.  What I did to get ready to meet them and what it was like when I saw them for the first time and how me and their dad were so happy to have them in our lives. I tell them about the people that came to visit them at the hospital and told them all the things about their tiny features that I noticed first.  It is something I love about birthdays and I think they like it too.  Truthfully I got the idea off of Gilmore Girls years ago and I thought it was sweet so I totally copied!

Cole is a good boy, he's pretty happy about the fact that he is five.  He is all boy but has a very kind heart.  After much debate and many prayers we have decided to let this boy go to kindergarten this fall.  I have always planned on holding him back a year, but as much as I would love to have him home with me for a bit longer I really feel that it is best for him to let him go.  He is very ready and it is a class full of great kids from great families and we know that with lots of support from home he will thrive even if he is the dead youngest in his class.  Happy Birthday to the coolest five year old I know! We love you Cole!