Birthday Eve!

 The boys went chasing a soccer ball down the hill ~ and the newly skinny Jake lost his drawers! Poor kid has lost so much weight in the past two weeks I can't keep his pants up even with a belt.

 It was almost 50 today ~ I got in a gorgeous hour of yard work at nap time, made some homemade soup and cornbread, and we had some great soccer and Razor~ing in the driveway when the kids got home from school. Jake is still on lockdown, no going to the gym or other kid`filled places (I had to miss Luke's Valentines day party today at school as Nate is out of town and I didn't want to take Jake), but getting a little fresh air on such a nice day was a treat for all of us. 

 The basement is coming along! We had our drywall inspection this morning and the taping has started!

Luke, getting ready for dinner. The big day plate always gets busted out on birthday eve and is utilized all day tomorrow. Nate is out of town but will be home in time for Luke's family birthday dinner tomorrow night. The kids get to pick what they want to eat for their birthday dinners, Luke picked Salmon and sweet potatoes. I will pick up some cupcakes, and we will have dinner and open his presents together then, probably after basketball practice. We are having the immediate family over on Sunday to celebrate our little man turning 6, which will be low key and nice. We do birthday parties every other year, and this is an "on" year for the bigs. When I asked Luke what he really, most wanted to do, he said he wanted to go to a basketball game with friends. So, we got him tickets to Nova Georgetown and are taking two of his buddies with us to the game as his "party" this year :) The costs work out to be about the same as a morning at a bounce house or an ACAC party but much more fun for us (win!). We are also surprising him with tickets to the Barnum & Bailey circus which is in town. We are going to a matinee on Saturday, and bringing one of his closest friends from school with us. Some football cards, and that wraps up his birthday.

On the eve of 6 Luke is a truly a little boy, there is very little left of the baby he was in him. The biggest news is that Luke has become a reader, which is so thrilling to me. Tonight he read us all the Formula One racing book that Jake picked out from the library. To see his little mind working, and language coming to life for him is just amazing. He has yet to lose a tooth ~ I think that (based on Nate and I) Luke is going to be a late bloomer ~ growing late and hitting puberty late. Just a guess. He got his first report card last week and it was great ~ the one thing that continues to plague Luke is a little bit of, ah, enthusiasm? for sharing his ideas with the class. He certainly does not struggle with either shyness or lack of ideas, and the one area he consistently needs to work on is remembering to raise his hand. He's my kid in that area, for sure.

He continues to amaze me with his generosity. Whenever he gets anything, he just presumes that he is going to share it with his siblings, even when I wouldn't dream of asking him to. He is obsessed with sports. While the other kids are upstairs watching their 2 kids shows on demand during the week, he is downstairs watching the Flyers or the Sixers. He knows who the QB and most of the best players on probably every NFL team are. He has been loving his basketball league this winter (playoffs start next week) and I just registered him for East Side little league today, which will start in the spring. He loves to fish and is already talking about the fishing trips he hopes to take with Pop Pop this spring. On the weekends, the kids are allowed to go downstairs and turn on the TV as they usually wake up before us. Luke is always up first, and is always watching ESPN. Its been fun seeing him make friends at school, and its great that they are all our immediate neighbors so it will be easy for us to keep up those friendships over the summer.

Luke has been an easy kid since birth. He can drive me a little batty with his ENERGY sometimes, but Luke has a heart of pure gold, and he is just an incredibly likable kid who is so much fun to be around. He and his sister are thick as thieves ~ I look at the two of them, who spend the day laughing and giggling together, and just think that they are so lucky. I never had that growing up and it just looks like a lot of fun. He and Jake are buddies ~ they can play cars for hours, or wrestle or play.....well, whatever they are making up at the moment. I'm going to really miss him next year when he is gone all day.

These past few weeks where life has been so abnormal have actually settled into this really nice little place. We aren't going anywhere, and instead of feeling like I'm climbing the walls, I like our relaxed mornings, late breakfasts, staying in PJ's late, reading books for an hour or two at a time, doing valentines or taking on small house projects together. Its been valuable for me ~ I feel a heightened sense of awareness of how this time with my babies under my roof for most of the day is almost over. It's precious time, it truly is. Luke is laying here in bed next to me, the first period of the flyers game just ended, and its time to move along with our sleepover :) I love sleepovers with my babies.

Happy 6th, Luke. I'm so proud of who you are and who you are becoming. I love being your Mom.