Five

The world may be shut down at the moment, but it didn't stop our sweet second born from turning five. A whole hand. Ryder James, your smile is still as big as your heart. You are our tiny little old man. You wake up at the same time every morning, get dressed, make your bed, brush your teeth and put waffles in the toaster. All that's missing is the morning paper.

You are wise beyond your years and love your people well. Coronavirus has ended your only preschool year two whole months early which hurts my heart so much, but you just bounce right along. You love playing outside with your brothers and you've recently learned to ride your bike without training wheels. You love our basketball goal and the bounce house, but you're just as happy indoors with puzzles, Legos, and crayons.

You are just the best big brother and we call you our "over snuggler". You still love to play with "baby Jude" and are the biggest helper. You really just love babies in general- more than the average 5-year old boy I believe! 

You wake up everyday asking "can we go somewhere???" which is hard right now when there is literally nowhere to go.

You had to have a tooth pulled back in November due to it getting injured a year and a half ago, but it clearly wasn't your sweet tooth. Doughnuts, cupcakes, cookies, pancakes, and breads are your favorite food group. Back when we still went to grocery stores, you used to say "I like samples when they're treats but not when they're dinner" and I can't think of a more accurate statement for you.

You love Super Heroes, Paw Patrol, Monster Trucks, Hot Wheels Cars, and all things Disney!

We had the most special birthday trip planned for you that had to be postponed, but I'm so glad we got to squeeze your party in the weekend before the world shut down. Our little Ryder bear, we love you to pieces and are so blessed to be your mommy and daddy!

Lately

Well it took a worldwide pandemic and Disney World shutting down to clear my calendar long enough to circle back here. There has been a lot of life filling the past days, weeks, and months. We celebrated holidays, snow days, and every day in between. Before the world shut down we had pumpkin field trips, a frigid Halloween, waffle house breakfasts, lots of Christmas fun, plenty of time outside, a Saturday snowstorm, plenty of doughnuts, and a Disney half marathon.