Gage is FIVE.

As every parent says, I can't believe you are FIVE!  Let's take a little trip back to memory lane.  I was HUGE when I was pregnant with you.  I think I gained like 60 lbs, seriously.  However, the pregnancy was a breeze.....until the end when I had preclamsia, which means I was in the hospital longer, on a magnesium drip (its horrible by the way) and had a catheter.....and I still had another kid.  What. In. The. World?!  God is tricky, he made me forget that mess.

Gage, you are always on the go.  Always.  You do not stop.

You do not nap but you are a pretty good sleeper at night.  You have 4 blankets that you sleep with:  Carolina, Jurassic Park, Panthers and a little teal one you've had since you were a baby...a little excessive, don't ya think?!

You still pee in your pants ALL.THE.TIME....like at least once a day.  Mad at me?  Then stop, seriously.  You just cannot seem to slow down and actually take a second to go to the bathroom.

You love Ninja Turtles (still), any superhero, "color songs", which are videos on youtube of superheroes, play dough, surprise eggs, etc....you can pretty much find anything and navigate my phone better than I can.

You watch too much TV.  You would sit in front of it all day if we let you.

You love to play outside "when you feel like it".  You learned how to ride a bike without training wheels when you were about last summer.  You saw Mia doing it and decided you wanted to.  It didn't take you but a few minutes and you did it on your own!

You love putting legos or any sort of blocks/building sets together.

You hate to brush your teeth.  You love footy pajamas.  You would eat 5 lbs of yogurt a day if we let you.  You love milk and will drink water too.  You are OBSESSED with candy.  It's a little scary how much you love it.  Spankings, time out and sitting in your room aren't very effective but if you say, "I'm taking away candy".....you have. a. fit.

You are such an AWESOME brother.  You will do anything for Lyla and you take such good care of her.  That's one of my favorite things about you :)

You are kind hearted.  You love to wrestle with your dad and play with your sister.  You enjoy the little things in life like playing in the dirt, running in the grass and playing hide and go seek.

You started going to Pre-K/Daycare at The Learning Express in August 2016.  I get the usual, "he did a good job but had trouble keeping his hands to himself" almost every day.  Your teacher, Ms. Danielle says that you participate a lot and answer lots of questions during group time.  You love school and have learned so much!

I CANNOT believe you will be starting kindergarten in August.  That makes me sad but excited at the same time.  I will get to be with you.  If I know you well, I think you'll walk right in to your class on the first day with no problem (I hope).  You are going to do great things.  I want you to be kind.  I want you to be that kid that stands up for others and is a good friend.  I want you to always do your best and be respectful to your teachers.  I want you to try when you aren't sure and know that its ok to mess up.  I know you have all these qualities in you.  I want you to always trust God and put him first and everything else will follow.

You have taught me more than you'll ever know.  You challenge me in ways I've never been challenged before but you were the first to call me mom and for that, you're my buddy.

To celebrate your birthday we had family and friends come to the farm.  Unfortunately it rained all morning so we had to set up in the barn.  You wanted a sports party!  So we had baseball decorations, baseball cupcakes made by LaLa, me (I just iced the stitches on the baseballs) and your cousins.  You all played soccer, hit off the tee, rode bikes, hit a baseball piñata and ran around.  The day actually turned out to be beautiful and you had a great time!  You said it was the "Best Birthday Ever!"

**That's as good as it gets with the pictures.  I'll try more later...thanks blogger (insert eye roll).