Kristen Lanoye Photography

Little goose,

Today you are five! You have been talking about being five for months now – wanting to be a big girl while mama just wants you to stay little for a while longer. These five years have gone by so quickly – even faster than with your brother. Life is just so busy between school, work and sports schedules that the days just fly by. We were racing the sun for your birthday pictures and I didn’t have time to fix your hair or make it to the location I wanted – so I told you this morning I wanted to take a few more pictures another day and you told me you would not be taking any more birthday pictures 😛 So I guess these are all I get – but honestly they sum you up so well at this age – messy hair, crazy smiles and poses, spinning in your dresses you love so much. You are equal parts spicy, sweet and smart and I wouldn’t change anything about you even though you sure push my buttons some days.

You started transitional kindergarten this August and it’s been a little bit of a rough adjustment for you – you do great in class and have no trouble with the work but the days are long and giving up your nap has made it hard to make it through the days. Many days you fall asleep in the car on the way home. You love your teacher and classmates though and just had a fun birthday party at Scooter’s Jungle last Sunday where you celebrated with many of them. You love to play school with Grandma or your dolls or anyone who will sit and let you boss them around 😛 You are so smart and witty and the things you say totally crack us up sometimes.

You haven’t really gotten into any sports or other extra curricular activities yet – after a failed attempt at ballet where you wouldn’t participate we took a break – you have just recently started asking to take gymnastics like your cousins so we will attempt that soon 🙂 You did make lots of progress in your swimming lessons and went from being afraid to put your head under to fully submerging yourself. You love to climb and play at the playground and love kicking the soccer ball around during brother’s practice. You constantly have blisters now from the monkey bars which remind me so much of my elementary school days.

You love spending time at Grandma and Papas and are learning to love their new pup Bella. Playing your ipad, going for walks with Grandma, playing with your cousins, movie and game nights with Dada and brother, playing LOL dolls, Barbies or babies and drawing/coloring top your list of fun things to do. You love all things Frozen, shoes and accessories, crazy clothes combos and dresses. Lovie is still your constant companion outside of school hours – waiting patiently in the car till pickup time.

We love everything that makes up five year old Ellie and can’t wait to see how you grow and change over this next year – I hope this one goes just a little slower than the last.

Happy Birthday to my sweet girl – mama, dada and Christian love you so much!

-Mama

My sweet little guy,

In the morning you will wake up and be “halfway to an adult” as you like to say even though I keep telling you being an adult isn’t very much fun 😛 I can hardly believe how fast these nine years have gone by – I can close my eyes and remember the day you were born like it was yesterday. While a part of me is sad that your baby and toddler years are long gone, I am so so proud of the young man you are growing up to be. You are so incredibly smart and inquisitive – you blew through second grade with straight A’s while taking drum classes, doing taekwondo and playing soccer and baseball. Your baseball team won the championship this year and you improved so much this season. You are a happy kid – always smiling and singing and for the most part you are a great big brother. You and Ellie butt heads at times but mostly because she wants to be in the middle of whatever you are doing. You are protective of her and she just lights up when she sees you at school – she is so proud to be on campus with you and Abby this year. You love to write, create and build – I am always finding books you are writing or drawings you’ve done in your school folder and you love building legos and creating things out of boxes and things you find. I joke that you are my junk collector but honestly I think it’s really cool what you imagine up in that head of yours. I just wish you wouldn’t pull things out of the trash and bring them home 😉

Pokemon, nerf guns, video games and all things Marvel top your favorite things these days. You spend hours organizing and trading pokemon cards with your friends and love going to Dave & Busters to collect Marvel cards from the game there. You love watching movies and having game nights especially with Dada – you two are definitely the best of friends. Riding your scooter, hanging at grandma’s and playing with your cousins also tops your list of fun. You love to read as well and while I should encourage you not to read so late I actual love finding you reading in bed with your book light like I used to do every night at your age. Watching you grow and change has been the greatest joy of my life – I can’t wait to see who you will grow up to be and what you will do with your talents. But I do hope these next nine years go by just a little slower.

Happy Birthday to the boy who made me a mama and makes me so proud every day. Dada and I love you to the moon and back.

-Mama

once again you weren’t super cooperative for your birthday pics so there’s just a couple – the weird poses were your idea and I promised I would use them 😛