An evening ritual

Something that we love to do most nights after dinner is head outside and just relax and watch the boys play.  They love it, and we love just sitting together and having a conversation that is somewhat private. ;)

I really enjoy watching them in their element.  Goofing off and playing.. Bryce loves to ride his scooter, Britton loves to ride his bike and recently, has really gotten into rollerblading.  Parker will ride his scooter or his tricycle.  Cooper on the other hand, has not been happy lately about sitting his highchair and watching with us.  He has started attempting to walk, so we started putting him in his walker and letting him cruise around the driveway.  Our driveway is pretty long, but man, he can fly in that thing! Within days he got tired of the walker, and started to climb out of it.  We decided it was time to let him crawl/scoot/walk around outside because he was determied to do it with, or without our permission. :)

The pictures below are some of my favorites of my boys.  I love the one of Parker with his cheesy grin on his tricycle.  And the ones of Cooper first discovering the faucet are hilarious.  You'll notice the image where he had just banged his head on it...priceless.

I also really love the pictures of Cooper with his stick.  Yes, I know sticks are dangerous; I didn't let him hold it but for a few seconds...just long enough to catch these pictures.  My favorite is where he's holding the stick in the air; it looks like he's trying to pull off Harry Potter. ;)

I have a six year old (gulp).

Bryce turned six.  I probably should say that with more excitement...Bryce turned six!!!

While I am totally excited that the older he gets, the more new and fun adventures we have; I have to admit that the Mommy part of my heart was super emotional over it.  It's the end of toddler-hood and the beginning of being a boy.  The babyness is leaving and tiny little dark hairs are showing up above his upper lip (that last one almost gave me a heart attack upon discovery). 

Nobody can ever prepare you for how fast this goes by.  I just cannot believe it.  We are so proud of the little man that Bryce is.  He is probably the most kind-hearted child I have ever known.  Sweet, caring, compassionate and he is always wanting to lend a helping hand.  I love so many qualities about him.  He is strong and brave...he has a serious obsession with all things army and worrior.  He loves the idea of being a protector.  We hope to nurture that into one day being a protective father and husband. 

Even at six years old, he is still very much attached to me.  Not in an unhealthy way either.  If you know me at all, you know that the last thing I want is to raise boys who can't leave their Momma.  NOPE.  I absolutely want them to call home and check on us when they are grown, but I never want them to be dependent on me as grown men.  He will still sit with me and cuddle, he tells me I'm his buddy and that he loves me the most in the house ;)  He will say to me, "Mom, I love Jesus the most in Heaven, but I love you the most on earth."  Adorable.

Anyhow, we celebrated his sixth birthday dinner exactly how he wanted it...at our local Casa Ole.  Hands down his favorite place to eat mexican food.  We gave him the choice and that was his pick.  We met some family there and we had him open his presents from us.  He was super excited about his binoculars and his Leapfrog Leap Pad.  Victor and I honestly went back and fourth about purchasing the Leap Pad.  It's like an Ipad but it has learning games that can be purchased to use.  My thing is that I didn't want to get him hooked on playing video games; because we for sure aren't going to let him sit around and do that for hours a day.  But so far, it has been great.  He even takes turns sharing with his brothers who also like to play. 

We had a great evening celebrating Bryce.  He is loved by so many.  The one person we missed the most that night was my brother, Uncle Bubba as the boys call him.  But he came home shortly after that for a visit and that was wonderful.  We also recently had Bryce's official birthday party.. that was a ton of fun for the kids.  I will be posting pictures of that in the coming days!