High Five

My little boy turned five on Saturday. He starts playing t-ball in a month. In August, he'll head off to kindergarten. And, he won't let me cover his face in kisses anymore. *Sniff* I'm not sure I like this growing up thing so much.

Five Things about H
1. He loves baseball with all his heart. When he was two, he went to a BYU baseball game and was riveted the whole time. My mother-in-law says he must have played it in the pre-existence.

2. He knows he's not really a superhero, but he's pretty darn close. He's great at doing Spiderman webs and flying off the couch like Superman (not allowed, but he does it anyway).

3. He's getting pretty awesome at reading. You never know how different kids will do with different skills, but he's already surprised me with his ability to read very well for his age. He'll do great next year!

4. He adores his younger brother. This adoration sometimes comes in the form of punching and wrestling, but it's usually all in good fun. And he always tries to comfort T when he's sad, even if T's sad because of something H did.

5. He's pretty shy and sometimes nervous in new situations. I know he'll outgrow it at some point, but I secretly love when he gets shy, because that means I get to hug and comfort him. :)


He got a new bike for his birthday--a real bike that he loves with all his heart. He even wears the helmet inside the house. After all, you never can be too safe.

For his birthday, we decided to visit the zoo as a family. We've never been before (sad, I know) so we decided it was about time. The weather was beautiful the day before his birthday. Day of? Not so much. We bundled up in coats and had a good time anyway. I was just grateful it didn't rain or snow like it was supposed to. The snow came this morning instead. :)

This picture is of the snow leopard. He started pacing in front of the glass, occasionally stopping to glare at my children and jump at them a little. They loved it. When we came back two hours later, he was still doing it. Perhaps he was agitated?

T loved the snakes best, or "snask" as he calls them. He doesn't say any "x" or ks" sounds correctly, so he says "sisk" for "six", "thansk" for "thanks" and so on. He even said "esg" for "eggs" when it was Easter. It may be my most favorite kid-ism yet.

The gorillas (the real ones, not this one) were sitting in opposite corners, looking depressed and/or annoyed. A and I had this whole conversation about how they must have had a fight and weren't speaking to each other. Ten minutes later, S asked me, "Do you think the gorillas really had a fight with each other?" Oops. No more make-believe scenarios about animals.
I didn't get a picture of it, but we passed a cage that was supposed to house an owl. No owl there, but there was a small dead mouse on the ground. The kids were oohing and ahhing over it--"Why is the mouse in there?" "Oh, he's so cute!" Hours later, S said she loved all the animals we saw, even the dead mouse. H said: "I know--he was so cute!" Weird kids.

I made blonde brownies and frosted them for H. I could have made a cake, but *I* like eating cookies/browines better and the kids think all of it is great. Hooray for a great birthday!