On my actual birthday...

Photos from my actual birthday (separate posting on my party)...

Mom and Dad had to work on my actual birthday so Nan took my photo on my exact birthday time. However, we had a small birthday celebration (my second one) that night. Grandma and Grandpa brought over pizza (my favorite food) and Good Neighbors DandM stopped over with sugar cookies. 

We had a singing of happy birthday (which I no longer will cry during) and I blew out my candles twice (once for the video and once for the still shot - yes, I seem to tell all of Mom and Dad's little secrets like that these days). 

I had lots of cards and phone calls from friends and family. It was truly wonderful being celebrated by so many. Thank you all.

Enjoy the photos starting with my exact 5 year old photo...

To our little guy,

Thank you for being the most amazing young man and son. We are so proud of the young person you have developed into and the wonderful things you do and say every day. You are caring toward others and love your sister and family. You are warm, friendly, polite, all mixed with energy and creativity. We thank God every day that you are apart of our family and we have the honor of being your parents. You are our real life super hero.

Love, 
Mom and Dad

Santa Visit 2012

It was the best year ever!

Historically, I've been a little shy around Santa. This year we were invited to a special visit with Santa and I did great. I actually had a few minutes to really chat with Santa. I asked about him, Mrs. Claus, and the reindeer. He told me he was well (which I thought was amazing for being almost 200 years old). He said Mrs. Claus is busy with the elves getting ready for Christmas, and the reindeer were busy doing reindeer games. 

I asked for Star Wars legos. Santa reminded they are small pieces so I need to pick them up. He also made me promise to go to bed early on Christmas Eve and not peek. 

It also helped that I was able to talk with my good friend about visiting Santa and watch him visit with Santa, too. It was all great. Awesome actually.

Last Day of 4

Here are some photos of my last day being a four year old. After a relaxing morning at home with Mom, Dad, and Sister, I dressed myself (cape and mask, too) and headed out with Mom and Sis to do some Christmas shopping and birthday shopping for Dad (his birthday is a week after mine).

We went to HobbyTownUSA. We love our local hobby store. I wanted to look at rockets.

Later on after lunch and naps, we took a hike on the Oregon Trail. Then home to have Dad cut my hair. Mom interviewed me on my last day of being 4 - see video (it is almost 4 minutes long). 

After my interview, Mom and Dad had a surprise for me which I happily shared with Sister - dinner and a show. The show - Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.  It was my first viewing. As Mom and Dad suspected, I LOVED it and was captivated the entire time.

I was so exhausted after my day I went right to sleep but not without asking a million Star Wars questions of Mom and Dad.  They keep saying they felt a grave disturbance in the Force. I suppose I'll understand better when I'm five....

Halloween 2012 - Captain America

I was originally going to be The Hulk but Captain America is my true favorite super hero. Mom and Dad surprised me with a new suit since my other one was quite tattered. I'm holding my super awesome shield that Dad picked up for me. I like this suit since it has muscles. My other did not have that.

So far, there are only a few candies I will eat - sugar free lollipops, laffy taffy, skittles, and gummy life savers. No chocolate. Honestly, though, I was more interested in showing off my costume than in gaining candy.

I had the best time. In years past I've only visited a couple homes in the neighborhood. Tonight we went everywhere. It was so much fun.

Visiting Great Auntie...

This past week Mom took Nan, Sister, and me out to visit Great Auntie E. She has been ill and we wanted to cheer her up. She is very special to all of us and just a super amazing lady.

She was a grade school teacher for a couple of decades. She is always asking about my studies. This trip I brought my books and instead her reading to me, I read to her. She was so proud. 

We are all very grateful for her wonderful, loving, caring spirit.

Great Auntie, you and your faith are an inspiration to us all.

Batman...

Homemade style...

Crochet hat, crochet mask, crochet bat-a-rang, and sewn satin cape.

 

Thanks, Mom.

Alien Bones...

Mom found this free balloon at a lunch meeting she attended. I could not resist requesting a photo while wearing my glow-in-the-dark bones jammies.

New Set of Wheels...

Enjoying my new wheels from Grandma and Grandpa. Although, everyone agrees it has been all Grandpa's doing...

I jumped on, started pedaling, and never stopped. Great fun.

Captain America...Revisited...

I attended a birthday party this past week with the theme of super heroes. Of course, I had to go as Captain America. This time, Mom and Dad surprised me with the full costume and a new shield. I was so excited. Plus, my Avengers sneakers went perfectly with everything.

Avengers Assemble...

Recently when I introduce myself I will say, "I'm really into super heroes". As a special surprise, Mom and Dad took me to the big theater to see the Avengers movie. They said they debated it heavily but it was a clean movie and wanted me to see it on the big screen.

Plus, the movie has been out for months so when they took me, we basically had a private viewing. As you can see from the photos, no one else was there.

Oh, there were some scary parts - mostly when the villain appeared. Mom said she could feel my little heart beating fast. Even just the appearance of the villain would send my heart racing. But aside from that, I did alright. Note in the below photo, at the far right lower corner is my special meow Daniel. He kept me from being too scared.

When asked if I would see it again I replied, "No, it's too scary, but the heroes were awesome!"

I Spy Quilt...

This past week Mom surprised me with this completed quilt. Dad has been letting me use a very special, very old quilt that was his. However, it is getting a bit worn so in order to preserve it, we're putting it away. To ease the pain of being without the special blanket, Mom made this one for me.

It's a type of "I Spy" quilt. There are lots of different, non-coordinating prints (all of which either myself or my sister selected). Then, we can look at it and see how many different items and see how many different things we can find at a given time. Initially, we thought the quilt was going to be one of the many projects Mom gives away. I was delighted when after story time I walked into my room and this was on my bed. Now I cannot sleep without it.

Super Hero Squad...

Watching a couple of the Super Hero Squad shows I checked out from the library. There are a few scary parts but a lot of the action takes place "off screen" so it's usually the villains that make me want to hide, but only a little.

In this first photo you can see how I've incorporated the Captain America library book into a box turned into a fort for the Super Heroes Squad Headquarters.

Jumping In...

From a recent pool outing...

 

Captain America...

I've recently discovered Super Heroes.

Only through books but I still create a lot with my imagination. Mom and Dad say I am still too young for the movies but we are working on getting some cartoon versions based on the books I've checked out from the library.

Lately, I've been introducing myself as a Super Hero. Apparently, I'm more like Iron Man in that I enjoy everyone knowing I'm a Super Hero. However, at the moment the Hulk is my favorite because he is green and smashes. But I like the Captain America costume the most, particularly because of the shield which I saved for and earned. (It took 2 weeks and lots of pine cones!) And the mask actually fits comfortably over my glasses.

So I present to you me, as Captain America:

 

 

Feather Collecting...

On a recent nature hike the young adult geese were shedding their baby fuzz. There were goose feathers everywhere and I was so excited to collect them. I told Mom I wanted to collect enough to make a goose. She was not all that keen on that but I still went home with a large handful. 

It was a beautiful day for a nature hike.

Butterflies...

This spring we raised caterpillars and watched them turn into butterflies. (Mom is still working on that blog posting.) However, the zoo recently opened up their butterfly encounter and I wanted to go. It was tough not being able to hold or touch the butterflies as I had grown accustomed to being able to do so with my 10 butterflies. I even had one trained to drink from a dropper. More on that in Mom's posting at a later time, though.

In the interim, here are those photos from the zoo butterfly encounter. Despite not being able to hold them, I still had a couple land on me and I did enjoy that.

And yes, if you ask me I will tell you all about the stages of the life of a butterfly in more detail than you probably are interested in knowing. 

Trike...

I'm growing every day and my trike just about no longer fits. So here are some last few photos of me taking my trike for a ride:

 

Just...

From Mom's graduation day - I was excited to get a new tie.

Segway Ride...

Mom forgot to post these photos from a trip to the Discovery Center back in February but they definite blog material. Actually, both Mom and Dad were pretty proud of how brave I was jumping right up and volunteering to ride.