Leo is SIX

Happy Birthday, Leo!  We love you!  

Life was so strange when you were born at the kick off of all the craziness that came in the Spring of 2020.  Life came to a standstill in mid-March and then you were born April 7th when the hospitals were empty in anticipation and visitors were not allowed.  We spent more time together at home, working from home, doing school from home and staying home than with any other baby.  You got held more, played with more and were surrounded by us 24/7.  I also had 3 big surgeries in April, June and July the year you were born.  My heart beats a little faster reliving all the sweet and hard moments of your first year.

You'll always be our baby even though you are quick to remind us that a six year old is not a baby.

Leo's favorite things:

Gardettos, Chex Mix, Goldfish

Apples, Carrots and french fries

You love all cookies, Reeses cups and M&Ms.

You love a good car playlist.

You are sporty and say you want to play football, basketball, golf and flag football.

You really enjoy playing games.

You love to make a deal especially on your terms.

You are an excellent writer and speller.

You are correcting your speech errors every day.  You'll say a word.  Ask how to spell it and then practice saying it properly.

You love books.

You play basketball at recess.

You love home days in your pjs.

A few favorite pictures of Leo:

And a tiny stroll down memory lane.  All of my newborn photo shoot options were cancelled in 2020 so I took matters into my own hands.  I picked out coordinating outfits and I took picutres at home.  These pictures are some of my favorites.

Now I'm all in my feels :)

First Tooth

Leo surprised us this weekend by losing his first tooth!  And it's a top one!

We have been on wiggly tooth watch since Kindergarten started back in August.  Just in the last couple of weeks did his teeth start to get wiggly.  He called me over to him on Friday night and handed me his wiggly tooth.  We were so excited for him.  I was ready with a tooth fairy pillow.  That is something I never got around to doing with the other two kids.  Whoops!

Leo loved it.  He woke up bright and early the next morning to see if the tooth fairy came.

He went to a birthday party this weekend and his friends were so excited to see he'd lost a tooth.  It really is such a big deal in kindergarten.  He can't wait to show off his new tooth gap to his buddies at school today.

Big milestone for our littlest guy!

Leo Says

Leo makes us laugh and says things that are clever and funny all the time.  I keep a running list on my phone so I don't forget them.  He's really into Peppa Pig lately so he's speaking like a little British boy.  Asking for a lovely snack, asking when we are going on holiday, calling zebras zeh-bras, can we mend this? when something breaks and more.

Retending = pretending

Honey bears = Teddy Grahams

Sweet Fish = Swedish Fish

Re-raser = eraser

We were on a nightly neighborhood walk just me and Leo.

We walked past some older boys playing basketball in a driveway.

Leo yells Whud up, Noah!?! like he was a junior high boy.

My butt is a volcano.  It keeps erupting.

I'm obsessed with BINGO.

I am a puzzle master.

I'm a little bit of an expert at eating.

I'm not berry sure about this.

Mom, does God have a playlist in heaven?

I can write the whole alphabet and number-bet.

So good and so testy (tasty)!

He found his school papers in the trash can and said - Hey!  I worked berry hard on those!

I gave Leo a hug and a kiss in the hall one day at school.

He replied - No kisses in the hall, Mrs. Jordan.

I'm going to be a home man when I grow up.

What's that?

A guy who stays home.

If you're not listening to Leo, he'll grab your face an say listen to my rules!

Hey Mom!  God hasn't spoken to me in a while.

I guess I need to read my Bible.

Are you tired after a long day of school?

I'm tired of school.

He loves to ask Alexa questions-

Alexa, what's inside of a pickle?

Alexa, can you eat a tarantula?

Alexa, how many feathers are on a turkey?

Alexa, is God ever sad?

Alexa, how far away is heaven?

Alexa, why do we burp?

The baby of the family is a born entertainer.

Leo Says...

I keep a running list on my phone of the funny/silly/cute things that Leo says.  He talks a lot so I have a lot of content.  I did this for all of the kids and they are some of my favorite blog posts to go back and read.

Let's laugh with Leo!

Can I still call you Mama when I get married?

My eyes won't stop clicking.  Clicking = blinking

We were out of town and he was laying on the pull out couch with Olive.  Olive got up and somehow he fell into the couch.  We were all shocked to realize he was stuck INSIDE the couch.  We tried not to panic.  We attempted several different ways to get him out and then Kevin finally pushed or pulled to give him enough wiggle room to crawl out.  He shed a few tears and said That couch tried to eat me!

I whispered - You're getting a hair cut tonight.

He whispered back - Dang it.

Thank you, babe!

What he tells me after I hand him his library book.

I asked him a question.

His response, I'm sorry my voice is not available.

How many minutes is 800 seconds?  700?  500?

Mom, How many pounds are you?  5,000?

I burst out laughing and tell him that's what an elephant weighs.

He dies laughing.

His class worked hard to earn a pajama day.

My class is s-l-o-w-l-y working towards the same reward.

He said well that's just sad! in reference to my class losing to his class.

I never use the restroom at school.

It stinks in there.

I'll just wait and go at home.

Words he misprounces.  Please don't correct him.

me pressing = depressing

emenies = enemies

racey cups = Reeses cups

blazed donuts = glazed dnouts

sweet fish = Swedish Fish

clovers = Culvers

migula jiggy = thing a ma jig

Minnie Minnie Miny Moe = Eenie Meenie Miny Moe

5 year olds are hilarious.

Laugh with Leo

Leo is hilarious.  He says the funniest things without any prompting.

I keep a running list on my phone and it's time to document it on my blog.

I told Leo to hurry up and doing something.

Mom, you need to be PATIENT.

Look at this beautiful Mrs. Jordan!

Leo announces when I walk out dressed for school one day.

Leo when he learned that a friend didn't live with their mom... That's the worst because moms are more better.

You look amazing!! when I tried on a new dress.

He was home sick.  I told him that I emailed his teacher to let her know that he had an ear ache.  He said, Be sure to tell her that I also have a cough ache!

Asks me to spell something.  I say I don't know how to spell that character's name.  He said, Well, I cannot teach you that.

Leo looks at Kevin and I so sweetly and says.

Mom, you are a beautiful princess.

Dad, you are the worst.

We died laughing because we were expecting sweet compliments for both of us.

Gave me a big hug and said I just love your big squishy belly.

He whispers to me - You are so pretty and so beautiful.  Also, you are the prettiest princess in the whole world.

Mom, it breaks my heart when you won't let me go with you!

Do you think there are see saws in heaven?

He has funny words that he mispronounces:

woggily = wobbily

brown bars = brownies

memleyade = lemonade

scream time = screen time

hunk attack = hug attack

pree sun = Capri Sun

Leo's teacher tells me that he makes them laugh a lot and I believe it.

He was born to entertain.  Olive had friends over and I look up to see Leo doing tricks to make them laugh.

What a guy!

Leo is FIVE!

I can't believe our baby is turning FIVE today!

Leo arrived in 2020 to some very uncertain and scary times.  Breech.  C-section.  Empty hospital.  Isolation.  Work from home.  School from home.  Plus two more abdominal surgeries for me when he was tiny.  Kevin and I were remembering the grocery store runs to find mostly empty shelves, masks, so many rules, searching for diapers and wipes, and so much uncertainty.  Friends delivering meals to our porch and meeting our new baby through our front picture window.  His first years were so strange and somehow so wonderful.  We spent so much time at home together and I'll always be thankful for the extra time.  

The last five years with him have been filled with so much joy.  

We spent more time together, we played, went on adventures and we moved to a new city.  

We have all been fighting for his love and attention since the day he was born.  

He's the best surprise + blessing ever!

Leo keeps saying, "I'm so excited to be FIVE!" and he means it.

We celebrated with his favorite - dinosaur & car waffles - for breakfast this weekend.

He's really into books, super heroes, games and learning activites.  These HULK hands kept us laughing.

A few throwbacks of baby Leo...

in the hospital.

Would you believe they are still right by his side loving on him 5 years later!?  I regularly tell them to stop fighting over Leo.  It's good to be the baby.

Sweetest guy.

We can't wait to celebrate him at school today and with french fries and donuts after school!

We love you, Leo!

Double Birthdays

Since the boy's birthdays are just 8 days apart, we started the tradition of celebrating them together with family.  They love to play video games together so we went with a colorful gaming themed party.  Olive designed their Canva invites for me to text out.  She's the best.  I bought plates and napkins and she made the invitations to coordinate.

I made their favorite bundt cake flavors for my side of the family party - lemon, Funfetti & yellow with chocolate.

I served a taco bar and this is the only picture I got.

5 & 9!  Fletcher noticed that they are Lightning McQueen numbers now :)

Sweet big sis.  She helped with all the boy's party stuff all weekend.

Uncle Ty building cars with Leo.

Mr. Mittens & my Dad.

The cousins!  They're all growing up way too fast!

Party #2!  We celebrated at Kevin's parent's house.

I made a fruit and veggie tray, chips, ordered pizza and donuts for dessert.

Kevin's mom always gets birthday balloons for the kids!

The weather was gross, but we still had a great time.

The boys got some really fun gifts and had the best time celebrating with family.

Mr Mittens was excited to have some birthday balloons to play with at home.

The boys loved having Spring Break parties and having extra home days to play with their new toys.