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Monday, January 30, 2017

Tommy turns 6

This boy.....he has my heart. We had such a good time celebrating his 6th birthday! He went to bed a 5 year old....
 And woke up a 6 year old! We started off our morning with sprinkle donuts, because those are his fave!

 I let him open a few of his smaller presents in the morning before school. One of them was silly string because him and Tessa are OBSESSED with it and love to have silly string wars.
 He was actually excited to go to school because it was a FAB day and they were going to play bingo. He also got to take cupcakes to school with little airplane whistles on top of them. When I picked him up from school, he said it had been a great day. We headed to Nana's to celebrate with Nana, all the cousins and Aunt Brooke. Nana bought him a red cowboy hat (which I thought looked more like a pimp hat) that he insisted on wearing the whole time! He opened lots of presents....
....and ate some cupcakes and ice cream that he CLEARLY enjoyed.
  He's just the goofiest little boy! These are the poses I get over and over when I ask him if I can take a picture and that's why almost all of my pictures are blurry....
After our party at Nana's, we went home to open a few more presents and pick up dad to go eat dinner. He got all kinds of fun stuff.....a cowboy hat, a hot wheels car carrier, a cowboy belt and buckle and some other things I can't remember.
 We always let the kids choose where they want to eat their birthday dinner and he picked Golden Corral. Nick hates it, but Tommy LOOOOOVES it. And I don't mind it (although the older I get, the more buffets gross me out). He's a kid who really enjoys his carbs, so he eats 3 or 4 rolls every time we go there. He could survive on bread if we'd let him! His favorite part, though, is the dessert buffet with the chocolate fountain!
 We gave him his big gift after dinner while we were in the car. We knew if we gave it to him before dinner, we wouldn't get to talk to him for the rest of the night because he'd be distracted. We aren't really into electronics in our family. I don't like how much time kids spend on them and we live in the country, so I want them to find ways to have fun outside. BUT, Tommy has been really into playing games on our phone and does pretty good about following our time limits. So we decided to buy him a Nintendo DS lite. And he LOVED it! We bought a few games to go with it and he's really enjoyed playing them and having something to mess with while he's in the car or if we're waiting somewhere. And he's been pretty good about setting it down to go have fun doing other things too!

Overall, he had a really great birthday day! The next day, we had his birthday party with our family. He had asked me several times to make him a 6 layer cake, because he's six years old. At one point he told me, "Mom, I really want a 6 layer cake, but I understand if you can only do 5. I know 6 might be really hard." And that's when I knew I would make a 6 layer cake! I love a good challenge.
 
I'm not one to toot my own horn, but......toot, toot! I followed a recipe I found online and it was SO good. It had peanut butter frosting that was delicious and I poured hot fudge down the sides. YUM.

Tommy wanted a cowboy themed party, so I made some signs for the food and tried to serve what would be served around a campfire (maybe....I've never eaten a cowboy dinner around a campfire, so maybe I was way off).

We had mama's cornbread and Nana's tater salad....
.....and some rootin' tootin' baked beans.....
.....and move along little hot doggies......

After dinner, we opened presents and my little man got everything he hoped and dreamed for! He got a hoover ball, a bunch of camping gear, some star wars clothes and these shoes called S Lights that he had been BEGGING for. He was one happy boy!
After presents, it was time to eat that six layer cake! He was so excited when he saw it!

After he blew out the candles, we cut the cake and I served him a biiiiiiig slice......
And he ate ONE stinkin bite and then got up to play. He said he thought it was "really yummy," but he just wanted to play, not eat. Whatever. At least everyone else enjoyed the cake!

Happy 6th birthday, Thomas James!




Friday, January 20, 2017

To Tommy, on your 6th birthday....

Where has the time gone? It feels like yesterday that I was writing a letter to you for your 1st birthday.....and yet, here we are celebrating your 6th year of life.

Tommy, there are so many things I could say that you've taught me, but the most important thing you've brought to my life is that you challenge me in every way possible. From the time you were born and made me a mom until just this morning as I was waking you up, you have challenged me every. single. day. Sometimes in good ways, sometimes in hard ways (and sometimes in REEEEAALLLY hard ways).

You have challenged me to be more selfless, more kind, more loving, more thoughtful, more patient. You have challenged me to be more active, more social, more involved. You've challenged my time management, my thought processes, my method for disciplining. Every thing I thought I knew or was okay with before you were born has been challenged.

And I'm a better person because of it.

You're an awesome little man! At 6 years old, you are 47 1/2 inches tall and 51 lbs. You are in size 6 slim jeans and size 6/7 or small shirt. You are tall and skinny! You wear a kids size 1 shoe and are currently obsessed with your cowboy boots. You wear them almost every single day. We pick out your clothes the night before and you always tell me if you want to wear a "fancy Chuck Norris shirt" (you're talking about your plaid cowboy shirts) or something else. It's hilarious that you want to dress like Chuck Norris in Walker, Texas Ranger. Nana got you started on that show and you LOVE it. Ever since you started watching it, cowboys are your thing!

You're really into sports. You like playing them, but complain about going to practice all the time. We're gonna have to work on that because you have YEARS of practicing if you want to keep playing sports! Football was your favorite. You're in basketball now and are begging to play soccer, so we'll see how that goes.

You would veg out and watch TV or play your nintendo for HOURS if we let you. You love Alvin and The Chipmunks and ask to watch it constantly. Luckily, after 30 minutes or so, we can get you distracted or send you outside and you're just fine. You really love being outside. You like to help dad feed and water the dogs and you guys ride 4 wheelers all the time to the airport or over to our land. You love being able to run all over and act crazy and be as loud as you want (and I love it too because if you aren't doing those things outside, you're doing them inside!).

You love to spend money. You couldn't save a dollar if your life depended on it. Every time you get money for allowance or birthday or Christmas, you spend it right away. And usually on a light saber or toy gun! Or Hot wheels. You have SO many light sabers and hot wheels that I sometimes think I'll pull my hair out if you get another one. You also love collecting little "treasures." Which means I usually find rocks in your pocket or some random thing you've found outside.

You say you hate school, but I'm not buying it. I think you hate waking up for school, but once you get there, you like seeing your friends and your teacher says you do a great job! At your first conference, the only complaint we got was that you were too quiet. Ha! If only she knew the real Tommy.....but since the start of the year, you've gotten much friendlier with the other students and have made a few really good friends that you like to hang out with. Jace is your best friend right now. You seem to do really good at math and reading, but are struggling just a tiny bit with your spelling tests. You take after your dad in that area (sorry Nick, but you know it's true).
 
Tommy, I could talk about you all day. But I know you'd just roll your eyes and say, "Stoooooop, mooooooom." So I'll wrap this up. You're not the perfect son by any means, but you are the perfect son for me! I love you so much and even though we butt heads (because we're exactly alike), I couldn't be prouder of the big boy you're becoming. Daddy and I love you!

Happy 6th birthday!