Levi's Birthday

I can't even believe it...Levi is now 5. Pure craziness, no? I have to be honest though. It was the hardest time of the deployment thus far. Levi was disappointed that Nathan wasn't here, but he was pretty well distracted by all the celebrating and gifts. But I was not distracted. As it turns out, I was pretty devastated to be decorating and throwing a 5th birthday party for my son alone. Over doing streamers, balloons and presents for every occasion is kinda our thing around here. Nathan and me together. So, it was a happy birthday, but there were also some tears.
So all that being said, I did indeed decorate up in here. It was a big hit.
I was determined to track down an Astro Boy figure. Amazon came through for me, of course. It's been on his wish list for a while.
Levi's a rewarding gift opener. Always has been. Here he is opening DarkWing Duck seasons 1 and 2. When there's trouble you call DW.
This is the batman costume that Papa sent for his little buddy's birthday. It's pretty cool with those built in muscles and everything. And I love this shot with him and Charlie. This little boy and dog combo is for the movies.

Naturally little batgirl needed to join in
Levi got a manchild guitar from Grammy and Pop this year. This too has been on his wish list for a few months. He opened it while Gracie was napping, so once she woke up he got to serenade her in her crib.
girls everywhere will swoon. It's only a matter of time until his dramatic endeavors make their way into songs.

Sometimes Levi is a romantic troubadour, and other times he's a manly hero. He's complicated. It makes for the more complete dude.


Finally it's cake time. We had a little playdate thing the morning of his birthday, which is always fun. And then afterwards I took him to the store and let him pick out his own small cake. It was kinda fun, and it might be a new tradition. And of course here he is sticking his fingers in the icing, and also telling us how old he is. His cuteness really strikes me in this photo.Nothing like some brother sister bonding over sneaking icing.
Yes, that is in fact red icing all the way up on her eyelid.


The day before Levi's birthday we were outside in the nice weather playing. Levi wanted to climb this tree and the perfect 5 year photo shoot opportunity happened. So the rest of the pictures are of my handsome big 5 year old son climbing a tree in his front yard looking forward to his birthday.
How old? 5!During the first several months of baby Levi's life, Nathan tried to convince me that his eyes wouldn't stay blue. He just knew they would turn to brown any minute now. And I said, nope, they're gonna stay. Ha! In his face!
And now with Gracie, I told him from the get go that I thought her eyes were gonna turn brown, as they have. And he's still trying to convince me they're actually blue. He has optical illusions.

That's my dashing young lad. He has grown up quite a bit even since his papa left 4 months ago. I was amazed last year at the change turning 4 made. And I'm again, very aware of the affects age 5 brings. I just hope I can keep growing right alone with him to be the best mama to him.