Family of Five

I love five.  It's such an awesome age.  Still innocent, yet so full of opinions and personality.  Testing your patience their independence, yet clinging tightly with both hands and legs to their moms.  

Then....comes six.  And kindergarten.  And a whole new kind of independence.  They come home saying things you've never heard before, being influenced by people you've never met, and changing into people you are no longer intimately familiar with. 

Yeah....I think it's hard to say good-bye to five. 

BUT......

Six is kinda cool too.    

My baby boy has crossed the line.  (Of course he did this BEFORE I went to Chicago....but for some crazy reason (including tylenol with codiene!) I was not quite able to post about it before now.) 

Ethan is six. SIX!!!  He is an elementary school stud now!!!  He asked for a Mario Brothers party and wanted to invite BOYS ONLY.  This included some boys from his class that I didn't really know....that was a first for me.  Ethan has friends and a life independent of HIS MOTHER?!?!?!?  My oh my.

They had a GREAT time at a local bounce place...our first "out of the basement" party too!

And (although to the skeptical adult eye those pink red blobs look kinda like over-ripe pimples) he LOVED his Mario Cake with Mushrooms!

Ethan had a great time with all of his buddies....Ethan is a social butterfly.  I mean, social Mario Brother.

 My wishes for you this year, sweet Little E..... is that you continue to grow into the smart sensitive curious imaginative kind boy you are already becoming.  That you keep asking questions about God and His love, and that your love and thirst for Christ grow everyday.  That you grow in confidence as you experience the self-realization that you are WONDERFULLY made and that you are so so so very special--to God and to your family.

 Happy Birthday, my six year old.  And remember.....I love you more than the sun and the starts that He taught how to shine....you are mine and you shine for me too, I love you--yesterday and today and tomorrow, I'll say it again and again...I LOVE YOU MORE!!!!!!!