I have a 5-year-old!

I can NOT believe that Porter is 5!!! I am so proud of this intelligent, sweet, rowdy, curious guy.

Porter wanted to go to the zoo for his birthday, so that's where we headed to celebrate his special day. He was hilarious all day there.  He'd say, at every exhibit, so everyone could hear him, "It sure is nice to have a birthday today!" 

For dinner, his request was buffalo burgers.

Emma Rose and Duke helped him open his presents.

The day after his actual birthday was his party day.  But first we started the morning off at his soccer game, where he scored his first goal!  He was so proud of himself and did a victory faint on the side-line.

We celebrated Porter's birthday by honoring his life-long dream of being a construction worker when he grows up and headed to Home Depot to build some stuff!

(Kai, Holden, Sofia, & Lynden getting ready to build)

(Cousin Haley measures up the party)

(Cousin Holden is ready to build)

(Papa helps Emma Rose build a heart box)

(Porter built a plane!)

(Cousin Lily observes the whole ordeal!)

(Hampton and Val build a bird-feeder!)

(Ellery & Emma Rose enjoying some cupcakes!) 

(Emma Rose shows off her new box!)

 We so enjoyed celebrating our little man.  Porter, your dad and I are so incredibly proud of you! I look forward to the fun, insight, challenges, and rewards that the next years of your life promise to bring!

As always, I wrote you a letter. Here is part of it:

June 13, 2014

To my dear, sweet, intelligent, rambunctious Porter,

I can’t believe it has been five years since the day God opened my heart to more love than I ever thought possible.  I still remember the unexplainable awe and gratitude I felt when I first held you in my arms.  To this day, one of my favorite things in my life is when you sit your giant body next to mine and ask for a cuddle.  

At five years, you are becoming more and more independent.  You make friends easily, and constantly tell me that you need to go outside and play with your friends - all older, most smaller than you.  You LOVE to ride your bike and your scooter with your neighborhood buddies. You are so excited that summer is here (“Mom, summer is my favorite season because that’s when my birthday is,” you say when I’m around... but when dad’s around, you tell him that winter is your favorite season because it’s dad’s favorite season...) You LOVE to swim.  You’ve consistently taken swim lessons this year and you are getting so good!  You love to pretend to be a sea-turtle or a penguin and swim underwater.  You also just started playing soccer for the first time.  It is fun to watch you think while playing; whereas most of your teammates gather in a cluster and kick relentlessly, you stay back and watch, waiting for the ball to be kicked out, or to wait for a break-away so that you can rush back and block the goal.

As much as you love summer, you do love winter.  You skied completely independently this year.  I couldn’t believe how good you’ve become!  You even skied down your first black diamond mogul run all by yourself!  Something else you love about winter is shoveling snow.  At the first big snow of the season, you found our new neighbor shoveling our driveway and you were so mad! And after the last big snow of the season, you actually shoveled the entire driveway by yourself - for fun! (It was awesome.)

You just graduated preschool at Ben Franklin, which you loved.  At the start and end of the school-year, you reported to your teacher, Mrs. Spurgeon, that you wanted to be a concrete worker, like your dad, and a zoo-keeper on the side.  (You continue to idolize your dad!) Your best friends at school were Palmer and Easton.

While you are one of the most active kids I’ve come across, you are also extremely logical and inquisitive.  You always want to know how things work - and many times I have to look up the answers for you... From why we need blood to how lightening occurs, you won’t stop asking until you get a logical answer that makes sense.  I had to giggle at Emma Rose’s birthday party this year when “Cinderella” arrived.  You announced to all the excited little girls, “She is NOT the real Cinderella.  She has a cell-phone,” and when she told everyone not to step on a “magic pebble” lest they turn into a toad, you tapped your toe on a pebble and said, “Not a toad!”  You also continue to remain diplomatic.  One of the most hilarious things you said to me was, “Mom, I don’t want to frustrate you or upset you or disappoint you or anything, but I think Meghan makes a little bit better forts than you.”

As for your favorites, your favorite place to eat is Parry’s Pizza, but you also love hot dogs, cake pops, strawberries and watermelon.  (I can’t believe how much you eat!)  Your favorite colors are green and blue, and your favorite toys are transformers, switch’n’go dino’s, and legos. Your love the song “Happy,” by Pharrell Williams, and your favorite movie is “The Lion King.”

Porter, this year, our lives continue to be so rich because of you.  I am so proud of you and so grateful for all the times you make me laugh, think, and get up and turn life into an adventure.  You really try to be a good boy, and though strong-willed, you desire to do what is right.  I pray that I can be the mom that you need me to be, and that you will grow to be the man that God has created you to be.  I pray that you will know and love Jesus and always remember how much He loves you.  Thank you for loving me, loving and playing with your little sister, and adoring your daddy.  Every night when dad puts you to bed, you yell to him, as he leaves the room, “Tell mom I love her! Tell Emma too!”  Thank you, and I love you too - I love you to the moon, to the stars, to the sun, and all the way back.  

Love, 

Mom