A whole hand...PART II

Brayden is five. Its still crazy to me. He's growing up so quickly and I don't like it one bit! What a blessing our boy is to us. A few things that I love about him before I share pictures in no particular order: his eyes, the compassion he has for others, his love of helicopters, airplanes, shuttles, satellites, and trains, how he glows after spending the day working with his dad, his love for family, his love for anything camo or army related, his innate and unending curiosity about everything, his HUGE child-like faith, the sincerity of his prayers, his conversations on the phone, his vocabulary, his love for reading, his unbelievable driving abilities, his love for building things, that sweet face of his that melts my heart, his creativity, the amazing playdoh sculptures he creates, his love for me, the love he has for his sisters, that he's a great big brother and takes his role seriously, hearing him and his sisters laughing their heads off together, his silly faces when I'm taking pictures, the blessing of being his mom, his abhorrence to carrots, his love of anything chocolate and how it gears him up, his ability to tell a great story, his love for scaring people and loving to be scared in return, how hard he laughs when you do manage to scare him or he scares you, how he starts laughing for no apparent reason--only to tell you he's thinking about when he scared you or you scared him, how he serves (with his sisters) as a reminder to enjoy the small things in life and take in each and every moment...its gone all too quickly! I could go on forever, but now without further ado...

HIS FAMILY CELEBRATION

The cake that he LOVED (Please note there are four men on each hill battling for control):




Suddenly, Commander Mom left the post to tend to other matters at hand (AKA guests) and the troops called in for reinforcements...LOTS of reinforcements:



Unbeknowst to Mom, it must've gotten ugly 'cause the reinforcements (AKA Sgts. Becca, Brayden & Logan) kept delivering...






Hard to believe our boy is five!


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HIS SCHOOL CELEBRATION

The beloved Birthday Chair:

My only thought: why don't I have a Birthday Chair?? Life (especially birthdays) would be even more fun with one of these around! Daryl just may return home to all our chairs being painted like this. Even funnier is that I honestly don't think he'd be surprised!


Leapin' Leader duties:

Holding the flag for The Pledge


Being the Line Leader

A funny story about Brayden being the leader. The leader gets to pick how the kids will line up by four categories: boys, girls, colors, or tables. The first time Brayden chose colors. He would say a color and if you were wearing that color you line up. This repeated until all the kids were in line. Well the boys just behind him were, well, boys and started running, pushing, and jumping in front of Brayden as they walked to the new Reading Rug--which is super cool by the way. I could tell by his face that he wasn't all that pleased with the outcome. So, knowing my boy, the next time it was time to line up he shocked everyone. Including the teacher. He chose girls! The teacher said that had never been done yet. It was hysterical...and I knew he would do it. You know why? The 5 little girls in his class lined up quietly and stayed in line perfectly behind him. No pushing, no cutting in line, no jumping around, just doing as they were told. Everything was calm and orderly--just as my boy likes it. It was classic. A memory I won't soon forget :)

There was also a little girl in his class who made him a special birthday card. It was so sweet. She kept trying to slide it to him during reading time and he was too enamored in the book to take it. I think that he thought she was just trying to agitate him as Savannah often does :) At the end of reading time the little girl mentioned her card to the teacher and Brayden went over so she could give it to him! Sooo funny!!


Waiting for directions during Art. (Hey, is that Leight sitting next to Brayden?!)

The class singing Happy Birthday to Brayden at the end of the day (he's in the center of the circle). They also sang to him at the beginning of the day!

Enjoying the Friendship Circle as they say goodbye for the day.


And I must say that it was so cool to spend the day with Brayden at school (thanks to Aunt Krystal for keeping the girls). Brayden's snack was a hit--ice cream cone cupcakes, string cheese, and juice boxes! It was great to see what he does each class and to have more insight into what he's speaking of when telling me about his time there. Needless to say, I could work there in a heartbeat...I guess because it is what I practically do everyday anyways and usually love it :)