5 years!

We had a fun time celebrating Jared yesterday.  We really love this little boy.  We have some birthday traditions that I really love and while they didn't go quite as planned yesterday Jared had a great day which is what I was going for.

 I like to go and get balloons to put into Jared's room on his birthday.  I went to get them Monday night and sadly the only person at the store who could do them was a guy who had only done them once before.  When I got up in the morning, 10 hours later only 3 balloons were floating.  It was such a bummer and really didn't start my day off well.  Jared of course loved them which made me glad but I was disappointed. Charlottesville does not have a Party City, a store I love and normally get the balloons from.  Oh well.  He was happy and that was the point. He loved seeing his door decorated and running through the streamers.

 Jared and Lydia both had a really hard time sleeping the night before and didn't fall asleep until 9:30 then they were up at like 6:30.  That didn't help the morning much either.  I put breakfast in the oven (monkey bread as requested by the birthday boy) and started my workout when they came running down the stairs.  I missed seeing Jared find the balloons and streamers and that was disappointing,  but such is life. Really Jared had a great day I was the one who was off all day.  They did save me from completing my whole Jillian Micheal's workout though so that was nice of them, kind of.  It is just hard when you have a plan and that is how you think things will occur  and how you want them too and then they don't.  Well it's hard for me at least.

We put candles in the monkey bread since we wouldn't be making his cake until his party.  It was great to sing happy birthday to him and watch him open his presents.  We got him a treasure chest and a tool box.  We had a whole work bench with tools in Colorado but he never played with it and it was taking up space so we got rid of it.  Once we did he wanted his tools all the time.  I guess that is how it works though.  He loved both of the presents which is always rewarding.

 Pirate face! 

Before we left for preschool I went out and wrote birthday messages on the car for him. I was hoping people would read them and honk to tell him happy birthday but it was a pretty rainy day and it got washed off by the afternoon.  (again, things not going as planned) Jared loved having the car decorated for him and it is a fun new tradition to start.

We made beef stroganoff for dinner with Mark's special pink smoothies (which "taste way better than the green ones!" according to Jared) and had ice cream sundaes for dessert. It was weird not having birthday cake.  I hope it turns out well Saturday. We did our birthday interview and a few new answers came up but he is still pretty consistent. I really love doing this!

What is your favorite color? Blue
What is your favorite toy? Treasure chest and tool box
What is your favorite fruit? Strawberries
What is your favorite movie? Pochantos II (we watched it last month for movie night i.e: Meeko!)
What do you do well? Cuddle my blanket
What do you like to do with Daddy? Ride bikes
What makes you happy? My blanket, toys and birthday
What is your favorite scripture story? David and Goliath
What is your favorite song? Scripture Power
What is your favorite animal? Doggy
What is your favorite book?  Pochantos and Pirate stories
Who is your best friend? Joseph and Peter (Farnsworth)
Where is your favorite place to go? Children's Museum
What is your favorite thing to do outside? Ride bikes
What is your favorite drink? Hot Chocolate
What is your favorite Holiday? Halloween (first he said October)
What do you like to do with Mommy? Play with my toys with her.
What is your favorite things to eat for breakfast? Monkey Bread
What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Beef Stroganoff
What do you want to be when you grow up? Pilot

(Lydia's face!!)

Jared is a sweet boy.  He has grown up so nicely since last year.  He loves preschool and never has any problems.  Being the oldest in the class makes a difference, and having done it before. He knows our expectations and does very well following them. Last year at this time he would typically follow whoever was doing something that looked fun but now he knows he needs to be an example and do whats right even if he wants to do what someone else is doing.  Not that he is 100%  all the time but a huge difference then a year ago.  He is growing up so well. He definitely gets irritated with Lydia but does look out for her and help her.  He throws less and less fits (not that he was so bad last year just had more) and is doing really well not over reacting when things (mostly Lydia) don't go as he wants.

He has become really interested in our scripture reading lately. Mark can ask him questions about what we read days earlier and what is going on and he knows whats been happening.  He is doing amazing at his reading lessons.  I almost feel like I could say he knows how to read.  He sounds things out really well and gets so excited when he can look at a word and recognize it by sight.  Such as: that, cat, is, on, an, this and other words. He still enjoys our art projects and our learning times, especially patterns and can make some pretty cool ones now.  He is much more interested in drawing than he was a year ago.  He draws a lot of snowmen and recently learned how to draw houses, with fancy chimneys that have smoke coming out of them. He enjoys connecting the dots on pictures I "draw/outline" for him. He has also been interested in building with our blocks and Duplo legos lately. I can see some Legos in the near future for this kid.

A friend asked me what Jared's interests were right now so I asked him and he said  "Weapons!" which made me cringe quite a bit.  I do not think Jared is a violent kid or playing with weapons will make him one but I really don't like them.  I was pleasantly surprised they didn't show up more in his interview. He does love riding his bike and is figuring out the balance thing pretty well. He loves our family movie nights and Family Home Evenings. Both of which involve treats...   He was asked to bring in some pictures of things that were special to him for preschool and he picked the following:

 The beach

 His Blanket

 Swimming

 Camping

 Disneyland

Family

He is a happy kid and does well playing with others and by himself.  When we went to the doctor before preschool he was 43 (66th %) pounds and 42.5 inches (50th %).  We are so lucky to have Jared in our family.  He brings us so much happiness. I just want to enjoy this last year before school as much as I can! I will so miss him when he is gone.