HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN!!!

I can't believe that it was 5 years ago today that our world was changed by the sweetest little boy with big brown eyes, long lashes, a little button nose, and a smile that could light up the world. When I think back over the last 5 years, he has changed and grown so much. Then he was fascinated with eating and sleeping, now he is into tinkering with light switches, helping Grandpa operate the sprinkling system, fixing things with Dad and oh yes....SPELLING!!!!!!!!! He has to know how everything is spelled and the thing is, he usually remembers most words you spell for him after only one or two times of repeating it. I'm not talking only 2 and 3 letter words that 4/5 year olds know. I'm talking big words like school, Courtney (his sister), play, clean, dry, bath, tub, drink, water....you get the idea. He sounds out everything and knows that "oo" in a word makes the eww sound, "ch" in a word makes a cha sound, and knows what sound each vowel makes. (Yes, he even knows what a vowel is!) We don't quiz him or school him, he just is interested in learning what sounds make words and has a fantastic memory. (there are times that memory doesn't come in so handy! :)) My otherwise active 5 year old will spend 1 hour - 1 1/2 hours playing spelling games and making words with letter trains that he has. Ryan loves school and can't wait to start Kindergarten in the fall at "N E W B Y, Newby". We just went yesterday to Kindergarten round-up to get him registered and he is really excited now to officially enter "big kid school like Courtney".

Ryan also LOVES being outside! He loves to swing, race cars down the slide, help pull weeds (bet that one won't last!) water things with his spray bottle, ride his bike, ride his scooter, draw with chalk. He takes every moment of sun and just soaks it all in. If it is rainy, he waits until the sun comes out for even a few minutes and wants to go out in between rain showers. Another thing Ryan LOVES is chocolate milk or more specifically "Not so Hots" from Dutch Bros. He has those 12 ounce drinks gone faster than I can usually even pull out from the drive thru onto the highway! He is really a big music fan too. Ever since he was 3, he could sing songs in tune and remember different verses to songs. He always wants to know "who sings this" and "what is this song called" and even usually has a guess as to the song title based on what words were "peated in the song".

Ryan will officially party for his birthday tomorrow when Grandma & Grandpa Kent, Grandma & Grandpa Joel, Dave, Rhonda & Jason come for BBQ hamburgers. We won't have cake or cupcakes (pupcakes as Ryan calls them) because Ryan doesn't like cake. We'll have his favorite "brown cow ice cream", chocolate chip cookies and brownies that are chocolate. (Do you think he might be a chocoholic??) We'll all also be going to the local community theater to see a live performance of "High School Musical". All of us (well, okay maybe not Tom) are HUGE fans of the Disney movie that hit the world by storm a couple of years back. It is a modern day "Grease" and has lots of great music and dance numbers in it. Ryan has been really excited to see it. Courtney and I will be watching from backstage, since we are part of the backstage crew, but I'm sure that Ryan will enjoy every minute of the show!

Happy 5th Birthday sweet Ryan! and we look forward to the many more changes you'll go through during the next several stages of your life!