Five

My baby is 5.

The boy who made this woman a mother.

The boy who can make his mama teary eyed as he shares his artwork.

The boy who loves to share peaks and valleys on nights we lay together in his bed.

The boy who loves to snuggle up with me and read book after book.

The boy who loves all the colors in the whole wide world.

The boy who is stubborn like his mama.

And for those reasons and a million more, we celebrated.

He blew out a few candles...

He even decorated his own birthday cake with the help of Grandma Cheryl.

Austin had his first 'friend party'. We had a kick-butt birthday cake I was hesitant to cut...it was that cute!

In the end I cut it. Austin, along with his 10 friends, had a slice complemented with Oreo ice cream.

Then it was off to the garage where Austin broke open his pinata. On the second swing.
Take a look at the loot pouring out!

(excuse the dirty garage!)

The celebration continues Wednesday night....

Skates

During the winter months when I was growing up, my parents frequently took my younger brother and I to the two ice rinks in town. We always had a blast - trying to recreate the moves we'd see in the Olympics..haha, not really. But we did have fun, whether our parents were on the ice with us, or they took us because we begged them so much they buckled only to sit in the car and watch us. We didn't care. Sure it was great to have them on the ice with us, but as long as we were on the ice....plus we knew we'd have a warm car and a thermos of hot cocoa waiting for us!

Naturally when I moved out I took my box of skates. The same ones that have been sitting in the same box now for just over 10 years, unused...but this fall at a second-hand store I bought Austin a pair of double runner skates. And today, we laced up our skates and took to the ice! Today our WI weather was perfect - a balmy 31 degrees.

Austin surprised me by how well he skated! I surprised myself at how well I skated...and I was expecting to fall on my 'seater' (per Austin) but I didn't. I did, however, notice my ankle strength, rather the lack thereof.

About half way through our time on the rink he says to me:
"Mama? Can we come back tomorrow after school? I want to practice some more."

I replied with: "Yes. It is fun, isn't it? Sure, we can come back."

Guess where we'll be tomorrow after school?