Patrick turns 5!

While I'm on a roll, I might as well post about Patrick turning five!  His request was that his party was purple and pink with superheroes...cool.  I can totally do that?  I changed it up a bit with doing navy and plum colors with batman decorations hanging everywhere.  His response, "that's fine.  I like blue too."  He kills me.

This was the night before when I didn't have all of the food out.  His other request was to have ice cream, cookies and pop.  And then when he went to his cousin's birthday, he decided blowing out candles was needed as well so he settled for a cheesecake.

Aside from the food, I wanted to keep things casual and EASY so we threw a pool party.  We broke out multiple pools, filled up water balloons, bought water guns and let the kids go crazy(although somehow the adults ended up as wet as the kids).

Opening presents before the party.

 Overall I felt like he had a really great day.  Aiden got a little jealous and as he put it, "this is not the greatest day ever" since Patrick kept saying it was the greatest day ever. ha

A few things about Patrick...

-He wears his emotions on his sleeve.  This one is soooo hard for me.  I've always been one not to wear my emotions on my sleeve, and I've always struggled with people who do.  Passion is not my strong point.  He's teaching me to have patience with it and I love how deeply he loves

-He is the most social kid I know.  He would play with others all day, every day.  We just had a garage sale and he would go up to people and say, "Are you finding everything alright?  Anything I can help you with?  Did you see the stuffed animals?"  It cracked us up

-He's soo excited to start kindergarten

-He loves art and puzzles

-He started violin and piano but piano is the one that stuck.  After 17 years of teaching, I can honestly say he will be my favorite student

-He plays hard.  And when I say hard, I mean really hard

-Nothing is half way.  It's all or nothing.

-He can be my biggest helper in the world and I've actually come to rely on him a lot.

-He can be extremely hyper and has a lot of energy.  Another thing I struggle with but it brings a great dynamic to our family

-He loves to read/look through books

-Everyone is his instant friend and if someone calls him a friend back, he is over the moon happy

-Sometimes he's so intense he scares other kids away which is so sad for me to see

A quote that stands out this years:

P: Mom, can I brush your hair?

Me: Not right now, bud.

After several times of him asking I give in so he starts brushing my hair and looking at me in the mirror 

P: I want to brush your hair because every girl deserves to be a princess, mom.

Where does he get that from!?

Man, we love this kid.  He has definitely been a struggle, particularly for me, but I step back and see he's teaching me sooo much.  I love him with all my heart.  Truly.  And I can't wait to see him take that next step in life in kindergarten.  Ahhh!!  That's a weird thought.

Hi.

Where do I even begin?  It's been awhile.  Like, all summer and I have holidays and birthdays to catch up with.  Patrick's birthday will be in a separate post but let's start with a recent photo of the boys saying hi. :)

We've been so busy playing out in the sun so sometimes we look like this:

The best $10 we ever spent provided hours of entertainment

And somehow Patrick convinced us to get a kitten(he's super cute with her, though)

And because of that, someone apparently thought our house was the drop off for spare cats

So now we have two.  Although this cat is seriously the most chill, sweet thing ever

And then the 4th of July happened!

Aside from Christmas, I think we successfully convinced them that 4th of July is one of the greatest holidays ever.

And because I'm always up for an adventure, we went up with my family to West Yellowstone

I LOVE that this little boy still wants to hold my hand all the time

I decided we needed an art wall so we got naked and broke out the paints

Sometimes we are on top of things and remember to do family home evening.  This particular Monday, we decided to talk about temples since Patrick had been asking a lot about them.  I was in a particular crusty mood but 3 seconds on the temple grounds and I felt really peaceful.  And the boys think it's the most beautiful place ever as well and Patrick has since asked if we can go to ALL the temples.  We'll sure try, bud. :)

I've had friends leave the church...I've had my own doubts in the church but seriously over the last few years I've developed such a love for this gospel that nothing could turn me away.  I would literally be lost without the peace the spirit brings and without the knowledge the gospel brings.  I don't even mean that lightly or generically when I say my life would literally have fallen apart without the light of the gospel.  It's made me a better, wife, mother, daughter, and person all around and logically...it does all make sense.  :)

And lastly, I want to remember this little boy's fascination/obsession with green and blue.  Even to the point of having to have one blue sandal and one green sandal.

Man, he just brings joy to my soul and heart.