Dear Sunshine,

To my oldest son,

You are now a big 5 year old!  I am so proud of you and the choices you make.

 You have such a compassionate heart.  You often compliment me and others around you.  You always ask to be my helper when I cook, or when I need to bring in groceries.  You are very thoughtful and notice when people need a helping hand.  Sometimes you will bring me a snack and a drink for no reason at all- just to be nice.

 I love watching you explore the world around you.  You are  not afraid to take risks, and sometimes you come inside covered in dirt and maybe even missing a shoe that got stuck in "quicksand!"  You like to plant seeds and see if they will grow, dump sand on the trampoline, run along the new trail by our house and just be outside.  In fact, you will stay outside for hours at a time when the weather's nice. 

 You are so independent but also love to play with neighbors and friends.  You tend to gravitate towards older kids and are very social.  When we go places you will jump right in with a group of kids you don't know, and join their game.  Since I was so shy growing up, I love watching you fearlessly walk up to anyone to say hi.  You are aware of the feelings of the people around you, and are careful not to tease anyone too much... well, most of the time!  You do have siblings!

 I do believe you have a tender heart, and sometimes you get your feelings hurt.  You just want to do the right thing, and hate getting in trouble.  You do make mistakes.  A lot of the time, you are just trying things out and figuring out the way they work...like trying to sharpen a pencil with a knife!  You try so hard to please your dad and I, and we appreciate your efforts so much.

 You love to have fun by singing in the car in your cute raspy voice, dancing around the house with your brother and sister, trying to make baby Sunrise laugh, running around with friends outside, doing gymnastics at the gym and at home, making up great adventure stories and finding props to act them out, and going with Dad to the store. You love your dad so much, and want to be just like him.  You do push-ups and follow him around outside to help him.

Tornado just loves you.  He follows you around and copies everything you do.  You go out of your way to include him, and share toys with him and let him play your games.  My heart melts when you two hug out of the blue.  You are also great friends with Cloudburst.  In fact, you wear the same size shoes (13) and now weigh more than her (51 pounds). You also have a special dance and song to make Sunrise laugh.

 You truly are a ray of Sunshine.  I hope you can feel how much we love you!

Love, Mom

The Grandma holiday

A few weeks before Halloween, I was talking to my mom and we realized that after having a few October babies and a fall trip last year, she had been with us for nearly all of our Halloweens!  So we decided on a last minute trip and she came out to visit for Halloween again.  It is now the official Grandma holiday around here!

This year we had a witch (with Pippy Longstocking braids for fun), Optimus Prime, Spider Man, and a zebra.  Oh, and I was a witch also, and had a Ghostbuster for my date!  We had fun at a church Trunk or Treat and at the various school activities...

Last year Thunder scared the dickens out of the small kids in our neighborhood.  He dressed up in a scary mask and just sat on the dark porch...people didn't know if it was real or not, and then he would growl! This year I set it all up to look the same... but it was fake this year people!  Haha.

 Thunder took the kids around on the John Deere.  It was fairly warm that night.

Nice shot Sunrise!

 Grandma got to help us with a photo shoot of a new CGull bag for the Cricut machine.

And we had a little photo shoot of Grandma with Sunrise!  It was dark and the lighting wasn't the best... but we had great subjects, don't you think?

5 months old!

Much to my dismay, Little Sunrise continues to get less little everyday.  

 He is not rolling over yet, but he will sit up for about a minute.

 He is still the most smiley, cuddly, happy little boy, and also a chatterbug.  He can say "da da."

 He sleeps about 10 hours a night (7 PM 'til 5 or 6 AM)....

 and still nurses like a champ about 7 times a day...

  although he's not totally thrilled with solid foods yet.

My heart just bursts sometimes when I hold this little guy! Since he is most likely our last baby, we really treasure all the quiet moments with him.  I really believe heaven won't be heaven unless I have a perfect memory, and so I am trying to create as many wonderful things to remember as possible.  Each milestone brings both joy and sadness, and the knowledge that we cannot get these days back.  I just want to hold on so tight and take it all in so I can remember this precious time!

Tornado turns three!

 Tornado is still true to his name- dizzyingly fast and a bit crazy, but he also brings such a great energy to our family!  For his birthday we went as a family to Kangaroo Zoo, which is an indoor place full of giant blow-ups.  They all had a blast!

 Thunder had fun throwing the kids in the air and letting them land wherever they wanted.  They kept wanting to do it over and over and over and over...

 Then later we went home for cake.  Tornado said he wanted a dinosaur cake this year.  After getting some good suggestions from friends, I let him pick the kind of cake he wanted.  He said he wanted dinosaurs climbing up a volcano.  So here it is!

 Then we opened presents.  He got a lot of fun toys and nice clothes.  And phone calls!  Thanks to everyone who made it a great day for him!