Dear Owen

Dear Owen,
Today you are FIVE! I was terrified before you arrived of how in the world I was going to handle Eli, and now a new little itty baby. But in true Owen fashion, you came out ready for anything, smiling with a gung-ho attitude, making things easy for me.
At five years old, this is still so true. You are easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.  I mean, that is not to say you don't have your challenging moments, you are still a kid, still get frustrated and lash out sometimes, but you make it as easy as it can be to raise a little person.

You love being outside and riding your bike or scooter. I love how brave you are on your bike. You taught yourself how to whistle and man, you are really good at it. You remind me all the time how you can do it better than Eli and me. You are up for trying new foods (you have my taste buds, not your dads!), are not terribly picky about your wardrobe (but would probably wear your comfy camo pants every day if we let you), love to swim, jump and flip in the pool,  you are our late sleeper (meaning you don't always wake up before 6:30), you thrive on having one on one time, love to be with friends and with your brothers, and you love being in your pajamas.

You are up for anything. And you thrive in any situation.  You tend to stand back and observe before jumping in, but when you do, you do!
You are so kind and generous. You offer help, suggestions, kind words and even share things that are coveted around here like new toys and candy.  You make up stories.  Like this one time you told this elaborate story with such detail about a lizard that was in my bed...how you found it and captured it, the story went on forever and I will tell you--it never happened.   You are so funny and say some really hilarious things. You are always making us laugh.
A few examples:
-"You know what takes Pop so long to get back home with Chinese food? He has to get on a place and go to Chinese"
-One night when you snuck out of your room after Daddy was putting you to bed, I asked you if Eli was already asleep and you said "Eli and Daddy are both asleep. They look like little angels, except they are snoring loudly.
-Me: do you think Mommy should have another baby?
O: that means you would have 4 babies!
Me: I know, is that too many?
O: Well, its less than 8!

You don't give up. You keep trying without frustration. This is such an admirable trait and I hope you never lose this. You like to cuddle with me, which I love and will tell us randomly that you love us, or that I look pretty or that "I'm the best mom ever."  That is not to say that in moments of frustration I have not also heard that I was the worst mom ever!

Your dad and I really struggled all summer if we should put you through to kindergarten or hold you back a year. I was waiting for the moment where "I just knew" what the right choice was for you. It never came. But we thought long and hard, talked to the vice principle at Kiker and the director at SHPC, we talked to moms who put their kids through and those who waited.  I still have hesitations that we are making the wrong decision, and there are good and bad with both choices. We just feel that there are less bad with letting you wait one more year. Letting you be home with us one more year, less worries/responsibilities one more year, and one more year to let you grow, mature and to give you more of an equal playing field with your peers in school.  Honestly, my biggest hesitation is that it will make you and Eli grow apart.  That is a big fear of mine. You guys are such amazing buddies and I worry that one year in school will cause a big gap between you.  I know that at some point you guys may really appreciate having the space in between you to be your own selves, to have room to make your own friends, do your own things and not feel competitive with each other. But more than anything, I want all three of you boys to always have each others backs, to look out for each other and to be friends.

I know that you would thrive in either situation. You are excited about going back to SHPC one more year and that is a tall tell sign that we are making the right decision.  After all, you are turning 5 the day before school starts--you could use a little more time, right??!?!

You are excited for school to start and that makes me so happy!

Remember my sweet O's, there is nothing you can do to make us love you more, and nothing you can do to make us love you less. You are perfectly unique and we love you to pieces.  I am excited to see what this year as a big 5 year old holds for you. I know its gonna be great...

Love you too much,
Mom

I Gave In

The boys have been asking me to take them back to The Austin Aquarium, for no joke, a year. And I have resisted. It is far from our house, its crazy expensive, its small and quick, and honestly, it was extremely disappointing.
But it was on my list of things I promised the boys we would do this summer.  We did not have any plans yesterday, so last minute we got dressed and headed that way.

As soon as we pulled up I started regretting my decision when I saw busloads and busloads of little campers getting out of buses and heading inside.  It is not a huge place so I pictured the boys getting pushed out of the way when the swarms of matching shirt campers made their way in.

Somehow we were able to maneuver around the campers for the most part and I must admit, we all had a really great time.  They had certainly improved the facility (some) and finished out all the exhibits that were still under construction the last time we were there.

Eli shocked me knowing the names of all these random fish and animals that we saw there. He is really into fishing, watching fishing shows with my Dad, and reading about sea animals. Its amazing how much information their little brains take in.
My and Owen's favorite part was the bird cage! This was not there the last time we were there.  Owen was just beaming! Eli was bored. And Cash wavered between loving it and not being so sure.

But my favorite of the day was when I told them to get close together so I could get a picture of all three and this is what I ended up with. Be still my heart.

Dear Cash

Dear Cash,
Three.  Wow.  My little baby is THREE!

Wow.

You are something special.  You are goofy as all get out and such a little charmer. We never know what you are going to do next.  You beat to your own drum, are brave and out going, a little dare devil, can make anyone smile and are just the brightest little ray of sunshine. You bring so much happiness to our family. Sometimes I look at your dad looking at you and he is just smiling. But a miles full of pride and pure love.  Doesn't matter what you are doing, you just make us happy.

You loooooove your momma! I'm not gonna lie, I LOVE it.  Your dad keeps telling me I need to cut the cord...not happening.  I joke around and say that you would live in my pocket if you fit.  You seriously would.....and I would seriously let you.

You love riding your bike and your scooter and perfecting your skateboard skills, and are darn good at it.  You speed up and down the drive way, and all around the cul-de-sac.  You are obsessed with motorcycles right now. There is one that is a few houses down and every morning around 8 you hear it start up and run to the front window to see if drive off. You point out every one on the road when we are driving, and we got you your very own little motorcycle for your birthday.

At three years old you are an amazing swimmer.  You decided you were ready to swim and just went for it,  I think you picked it up from watching Eli and Owen at their lessons. If you look close enough in the picture below, you can see Eli and Owen on the edge of the pool for their lessons!

You jump in the deep end and will swim back to the steps, or swim across the pool to dad. 

Last week you taught yourself how to do flips and handstands in the pool! You see something you want to do and you just go for it! And you succeed. 

You are still a vegetarian--love fruit, macaroni and cheese, noodles, waffles, chips and queso, nuts, cheerios with milk, and you love making "soup" which is basically anything you can get your hands on when we aren't looking, put it in a bowl, mash is up, stir it up, shake it around and make a big old mess with as many cooking utensils as possible (think ladles, spatulas, whisks).  But somehow you get away with anything. I think its that cute smile you flash us when you know you do something wrong and we are about to get upset with you. But when you do get upset you stomp up those stairs (barely making a thump), go in your room and slam the door. 

You try so hard to keep up with Eli, Owen and their friends. You do a good job. They almost always include you in their games, and there have even been a couple of times that they both come down stairs crying saying you hurt them both....you hold your own. You are tough-you take some big falls and you just get up, brush yourself off and keep going.

You end up in our bed most nights. I can not say that I mind. Of course there are times when I want my space, or want to get up in the morning and not worry about waking you up, but I use that time to kiss on you as much as possible while you are sleeping and you cant tell me to stop. 

Your latest clothing obsession is that you always want to wear a bathing suit, or you change your clothes multiple times a day. You still love your stripped pj's and want to wear some combination of them every night.

When I asked Eli about you, he said "he is a vegetarian that never sits still and relaxes" and Owen described you as "a wild beast."  Yep, pretty much sums it up.

I am so excited to see you grow up during your third trip around the sun.

I love you way too much. I hope you had the happiest of birthdays. 

We started off your birthday with cupcakes for breakfast.

It was a Sunday, which we usually we spend at Lolli and Pop's house, so after we spent the morning together as a family playing in the yard, we headed over there.  

Pop took y'all out on the drive way to "practice fishing" with his fishing poles (Eli and Owen's favorite thing to do with Pop) and Owen helped me pick some figs high up in the tree so we could keep y'all distracted from your "present" that was driving in.

What you did now know what that Ethan was moving back to Austin on your birthday! Lolli wrapped him up in a big box to surprise you. You were so surprised/shocked/confused when he jumped out! Once you figured out what was going on, you were so happy to see him! And I am beyond thrilled he is back for good! It only took him 21 years to come back.

We celebrated that night with the family with a motorcycle birthday cake.

I was going to sneak another year without a party for you but started to get some mom-guilt and ended up throwing together one of the most fun/easy parties we have ever had!

We rented a snow cone truck to come to our house and we invited friends and neighbors to come over to hang out and grab a snow cone.

Y'all were counting down the days and minutes until that truck pulled up in front of our house!  You had been asking me for a red snow cone all day, so we finally were able to get you what you wanted!

We all just hung out, had snow cones, some drinks, played with bubbles, balls, ran around in the yard and finished off with a motorcycle pinata!

We had so much fun celebrating you with friends, family and neighbors. Happy birthday Cashman!