5th Birthday Developmental and Sappy Letter Post :)

It's Clayton's 5th birthday! I can hardly believe that my firstborn babe is 5 whole years old!!!

But, the calendar doesn't lie...

At 5 years old, Clayton:

* Recognizes all of his letters and their sounds. Can count to 100 by 1's, 5's, and 10's. Can do some simple math and read a few sight words. He isn't a fan of writing and his handwriting leaves much to be desired. We're working on that, though. Perhaps I shouldn't have such I expectation when it comes to legible handwriting - he is a boy, after all!

* Is hysterical! He makes me laugh until I cry at least once a day. He laughs at himself, too. He has the best laugh ever! It's such sweet music to my ears...

* Loves school! He begs to go to preschool every single day. The first words out of his mouth in the morning are always, "Is today a school day???"

* Still sleeps with his Brownie (stuffed dog) and his nanny (security blanket). They mostly stay in his bed, and I am fine with that. It's the one "babyish" thing that remains.

* Still naps 2 or 3 times a week and sleeps 10-11 hours at night.

* Loves routine and consistency. He says the same prayer every night ("Dear God, Thank you for Mommy & Daddy, Drew. Thank you for dying on the cross to save me from my sins. Please forgive me where I fail you. Amen.). Then we play the "Thank you Jesus for..." game. Then we do secret handshakes and kissing hands.

* Still stinks at sharing his toys. He has never been great at sharing, and I had hoped that having a sibling would help. But... we're still working on it.

I ask Clayton a few questions about his "Favorites at Five." Here are the answers:

Color: Blue
Food: Freebird's burrito (completely shocked me! I just knew he would say chicken nuggets or fish sticks.)
Career Choice: Doctor and Astronaut ("So that if someone is sick on another planet, the I could make them better."
Sport: Soccer (another shocker!)
Show: Tom & Jerry
Animal: Triceratops or Pteranodon
Best friend: "My whole family."
Place to visit: Disneyland
Book: Love You Forever
Superhero: Superman
Song: Jesus Loves Me
Bible Story: David and Goliath
Cereal: Frosted Flakes
Favorite thing about turning 5: Going to Kindergarten

Because birthdays make me feel nostalgic, I've been looking through old pictures. Here are my favorite Clayton pictures of all time... :)

























My Dearest Clay Boy,

Five, Five, Five, Five, FIVE?!?!?How is that possible? Has it really been 5 years since they brought me that sweet little bundle of baby blue? I guess it has!

I love you more than I could ever explain to you, and I have so enjoyed the last 5 years with you. You have changed me in such profound ways. After all, you were the one who made me a Mama for the first time. You were my "guinea pig" when it came to this mothering gig. ;) I have failed you oh, so many times, but, by God's grace, you have turned out to be a really great kid.

You have changed so much this year. You ask such mature questions (like, "Does God even love the devil?") and you remember things after being told just once. You are so, so smart! I often tell Daddy that it is hard to parent you because you are already smarter than I am. Ha!

You look just like your Daddy, but you act just like me. You have a precious heart, but you are plagued with some of your Mama's faults (being bossy, sassy, stubborn as all get out, and a super perfectionist). You are a constant negotiator (which I can blame on your Daddy!). You can be sweet as pie when you want to be, but rotten at times as well. You are a really great kid, and I wouldn't change a thing about your personality, even if I could. All of those things are what make you, you.

You love your brother so, so much. I can see the strong bond that you two have, and I pray that it continues to grow even stronger over the years. I hope that you will always protect him and try to be a good example to him. He is looking up to you, you know...

I can really see how the Lord has worked on your heart this year. You ask amazing questions and make my cry at the profoundness of your comments about our faith. I pray that the Lord will keep a firm grip on your heart and that your desire to know Him will grow exponentially with age.

I can't believe that you will be in kindergarten in the fall! I absolutely cannot wrap my mind around that! I try not to get anxious about you going to "real" school. I get a little teary at the thought, to be honest. But, you are sooo excited about kindergarten. It's hard to be sad when I see all of the excitement in your eyes. It's going to be great! I just know it...

I have loved being your Mama for the last 5 years and I look forward with great anticipation to the future.

I love you to the moon and back,
Mama

Must Love Dogs...

Alright, so this may make me seem cold-hearted and awful, but I have to share a bit of truth about myself. It's not something that I'm proud of, but it's who I am. So, I'm just going to own it and be okay with publicly admitting it.

I don't like dogs.

There. I said it.

Yes, we have a dog. Yes, I grew up with dogs. Yes, puppies are very cute. But... puppy breath makes me want to gag. Dogs smell "outsidey" all of the time. They also shed and sometimes tee-tee in the house. So, they are just not my thing. My husband and my children love animals, so I have made peace with the fact that we will probably always have a dog. However, if it were up to me, we would be a pooch free home.

If that makes you dislike me, I'm so sorry. Some of my very best friends LOVE their dogs. I think that's great. I really don't mind other people's dogs. It's just the upkeep of having a dog that I don't care for. I like people - preferably the small child or baby variety. The maintenance involved in raising little people thrills me to no end. I just can't put forth the same effort to an animal that can't talk to me or return my love in a human way.

Anyhoo... Last Thursday, we were driving home from preschool. Clayton and I were chatting about his day and Drew was babbling away. As I pulled into our neighborhood, this small black thing darted in front of my car. I thought that it was a bird at first. I slammed on my brakes so as to avoid hitting the "bird." Well, it turns out that it was actually a small dog. As I stopped to get a spatial sense of where the dog was and to recover from the fact that I almost hit it. The dog decided to walk back under my car.

At this point, I muttered something along the lines of, "Ugh, stinkin' dog!" Clayton pipes up from the backseat with, "Mama, why don't you like dogs and cats?" Me: "Well, I just don't care for them, Son." Clayton: "Mama, we're supposed to love all of God's creations."

Moral lessons from my almost 5 year old. Awesome.

So... I scooped up the dirty dog and put her in my clean car. She was a dark chocolate brown pug dog. Now, I don't know how to say this nicely, but.... bless her heart.... Girlfriend was p-ugly!

I went into a long banter as I drove home about how our job was to find her owner. She WAS NOT our dog to keep.

Of course, as soon as we walked through the door Clayton carried her into the house and announced to Wade, "Daddy! We got a new puppy!" Lovely.

We immediately gave her a bath. We made "Found Dog" posters with her picture on them. We (by this point, my sweet neighbor and her daughter had joined in our mission to find the dog's owner) drove around the neighborhood for an hour and a half searching for the dog's owner and taping posters to all of the major intersections.

About an hour after we got home, I got a phone call from the rightful owners. They were coming to get their adored little pug, Sonya. When they got to our house, they were happy to be reunited with their beloved dog. Apparently, Sonya is a naughty little thing and has escaped their yard twice now. And, get this...

She's pregnant!

Can you just imagine me in a few months in our laundry room assisting in the birth of puppies?!?! Yeah, that would have been a real scream...

Before you get worried, Clayton was not at all scarred by the owners retrieving their dog. He hugged her bye and went on about his business playing his friend.

When I called Wade to tell him that we found Sonya's owners and that she was "with pups." His reply was, "Well, did you get firsts dibs on a puppy?"

Sometimes it's like he doesn't even know me... :)

Clayton's 5th Birthday Party

Way back in October, our friends, The Heges, came to Texas to visit us. We took them to Cabela's one afternoon to look around and see all of the animals/fish. While we were in the elevator, Will read a sign that said that you could have Birthday Parties at Cabela's. Well, Clayton decided then and there that he was going to have his next birthday party at Cabela's. I was sure that would change in the next 6 months, but it didn't. He stuck to his party request. :)

So, a Cabela's camping party it was! It was a neat place for a birthday party, for sure! They had a nice party room, scavenger hunt forms for the kids, tokens for the shooting gallery, and fish food for the trout pond. Perfect for a {almost} 5 year old boy!

The most ironic thing about the party, though, was that it was almost all girls. Ha ha! Clayton, Drew, and Luke were the only male representatives. We had invited 5 other little boys, but they all had scheduling conflicts/illness. So... the girls were all good sports and played along with all of the boyish games and activities. :)

My 4 and 51/52nds year old boy!
(That's right, I'm hanging on tight to this last week of him being 4!)

By the way, that is camo face paint on his face - not dirt. I just felt the need to clarify...

His cake turned out awesome! Good ole' Tom Thumb did a great job!

Everyone tried out the Shooting gallery - even the adults. :)

Now that is a serious shooting face, if I've ever seen one!





I asked Clayton after the party what he wished for when he blew out his candles.
He said (in a whisper), "I wished that we would get a Triceratops as a pet."
Ha ha ha! Silly boy!

Papaw fed Drew some cake.

Surprise, surprise, he liked it. ;)

Doug led the kids on the scavenger hunt. They got really into it!
Thanks, Doug, for making it so much fun!

Looking for the 2 different kinds of "Moose" fudge...
The answer was "Moose Drool fudge" and "Moose Poo fudge".
Doesn't sound too appetizing to me...





Feeding the trout in the trout pond at the end of the party.

Do you think he enjoyed his party?!?!

Drew got to feed the fish, too.

It was a fun party! Thanks to all of our friends & family that made the day so special! We love you all!

P.S. If this post makes no sense at all, I totally have an excuse. Wade & I were both feeling pretty bad on Saturday morning. We took cold medicine and pressed through the party. But, today we both feel awful. :( We attempted more medicine this morning, hoping that we could make it to church. But, alas, the nose-blowing and sneezing didn't stop. Hopefully, this won't last long... Mamas can't be sick!

Drew's First Haircut

I have been so sentimental about cutting Drew's hair. I just dreaded chopping off those sweet little curls in the back. But... all good things must come to an end, right? Wade started referring to his hair as "shag-adelic", so it became apparent that a haircut was in order. :(

I took him to Pigtails & Crewcuts today, and they did a really good job. He got to sit in an airplane and watch Clifford during his haircut. They were quick and efficient, which I appreciated with my busy little man. We were in and out in just 15 minutes.

One last picture of those precious curls...

Watching Clifford




He wasn't crazy about the clippers.

He looks so old now. Sniff, sniff...



He got a certificate and lock of hair for his Baby Book.

I held it together pretty well and never went into a full on ugly cry. I felt myself tear up a bit when the first curl was clipped off, but I was able to keep my composure. He looks so much older now! He is awfully handsome, though, if I do say so myself. :)

For nostalgia's sake, here's a picture of Clayton getting his first haircut...

and now he is about to turn 5! Seriously, where does the time go?!?!

Randomness

Well, were y'all worried that I had fallen off of the face of the Earth???

It's been almost 2 weeks since I last blogged. That is a record for me! Yes, we're all fine, there's nothing earth shattering going on, and I'm still alive. I don't have any big excuse for why I haven't blogged, it's just been a busy couple of weeks. Since I don't have anything major to blog about, I thought that I would compose a list of random tidbits.

* Tuesday was Texas Independence Day! What did you do to celebrate? Nothing? Yeah, us either... But, Drew did wear is "Don't Mess With Texas" shirt in honor of the occasion. Ha!

* We are going through a difficult season of discipline with one of our children (whom shall remain, ahem, nameless of course). I feel like I am doling out punishments left and right. I am constantly rethinking my correction methods and trying to figure out where I went wrong.

Last week in Bible Study, our leader said something to the group that really spoke to my heart. She said that Adam & Eve had The Perfect Parent, they lived in the perfect place, and everything about their lives was meant to be perfect. However, they still made the conscious choice to go against their Father and to sin. Wow - does that hit anyone else like a ton of bricks? It sure did me. Even if we were perfect parents (which none of us are) our children are still sinful by nature and require correction.

* May I direct your attention to that Lily Pie birthday ticker that is on my right sidebar? The one with the alligator... Do you see how dangerously close the little boy is getting to the 5?!?! My firstborn babe will be 5 years old is just 9 short days! That's all that I can muster up to say about this topic. I'll save the rest for his birthday letter...

* Drew is in that phase of toddlerhood where he bumps his head all. the. time. The child looks like a prize fighter with all of his bumps and bruises. It's ridiculous! To make matters worse, he has figured out how to climb up into our kitchen chairs. That has made me go into full blown crazy Mama mode. I'm just terrified that he is going to fall and bust his head. I am scared to leave him unsupervised for even a second when we are downstairs. I seriously almost put Clayton's bicycle helmet on Drew yesterday, just so that I could put away a load of dishes.

He looks so stinkin' cute though with that big ole proud smile!


* After {almost} 10 years of service, our dryer decided to revolt on us. Wade took 2 different parts to the appliance store to see if they were the problem. Turns out that neither one was the culprit. So... we decided to bite the bullet and buy a new washer and dryer. In the meantime, we went 7 days without doing laundry. I am used to doing laundry every 2-3 days. So, to watch it pile up, and up, and up, was stressing me out. We got the new washer & dryer last night. So, I have been participating in what I now affectionately call Laundry-palooza 2010. I'm working on my 7th load right now. Good times, good times...

I think that just about covers all of my randomness for now. More exciting posts are to come, I promise. ;)