Oh Sawyer, another year has gone by and your happiness and zest for life is even more infectious! Celebrating your birth this time every year is just the absolute best.
We've spent the past few days out at Mill Lake, and we did the same today. You opened presents first thing this morning, even though I was really hoping you and your brother would sleep in after staying up late for the fireworks last night! You got green tennis shoes, a green baseball bat, and a green scooter from your dad and me. (And Carson got a red scooter for an early birthday present.) From Nana you got a green bike helmet. And from Dillon, Audrey, and their kids you got this big styrofoam airplane (Carson got one too, and you guys had a blast launching them off the back porch of Nana's cabin!) Needless to say, you are still very obsessed with the color green! (You even got bright green glasses back in February because it was impossible for me to talk you out of them!)
After spending some time with Daddy, you, Carson, and I went to McDonald's for happy meals (your birthday lunch request) and out to Mill Lake after that. We swam, played corn hole, and ate birthday cake with Kaleb, Owen, Symon, Andy, Katie, Isaac, Cassidy, Kamryn, and Lucy. Your birthday cake request this year was a soccer cake (a white almond cake with buttercream frosting). You were so thrilled and grateful! (In fact, this morning before we left for the lake, you were very upset because you didn't want to take your cake. Specifically, you didn't want to share it. You were very concerned that Isaac would eat 18,000 pieces! It took a lot of effort from me and your dad to talk you into taking the cake!)
After Kartway, we headed to Nana's cabin. You played a little bit of badminton. But mostly you kids played with your new styrofoam airplanes! Nana had this great idea to pin balloons to the dartboard and then use the darts to try and pop the balloons. You and Carson had a blast!
Once we got back to Rhinelander, we had your birthday requested dinner of Culver's. In fact, since it was your birthday, we even ate inside! You and your brother were starving by this point, and I was very impressed by how much you ate. But most especially, I was impressed by how emphatically you ate!
We got home and you boys took a bath that was filled with so much laughter it melted my heart! As I tucked you into bed after we called Daddy, you were super sad he still wasn't home. So we decided to have a sleepover in my bed. Watching you fall asleep with your brother's arm around you and you snoring so deeply filled me with so much love and peace.
Sawyer, I genuinely enjoy each day with you. You live in the moment, and you love so deep. You light up a room with your smile and dimples, and you make friends everywhere we go. You learn and remember people's names immediately, and you inevitably make people feel comfortable, welcome, and loved right away. People are drawn to you, and I think that's a spiritual gift that will stay with you forever.
You thrived doing kindergarten at home this past year, and you had such a good attitude about learning! Your reading took off, and it was mind-blowing to me how fluent you got! You are SO good at reading that at your end-of-the-year kindergarten assessment (to determine your readiness for first grade), the evaluator said she wished she had brought even more reading passages for you to read! I'm also so impressed by how well you write! Math is definitely your least favorite subject, but you didn't mind it as much when you could do your "Pokemon math battles" with Carson and Dad! You and your brother did Spanish on Zoom with Nana, and we also went on lots of fun trips (bowling, visiting Patrick and Finn's little farm, going to Owen and Symon's house in Fredonia, the trampoline park, Helene's apple orchard, Grandpa's Farm, the list goes on and on! I will always cherish so many memories from home schooling! (and I'll try to forget the not-so-good ones, haha!)
You lost your first tooth on January 30, 2021 and brought it to me, right away - all bloody - and asked, "Can I have my money now?" Haha! Then you lost your second bottom-middle tooth on March 22, 2021. Right now, your top front tooth is loose and you're SO excited because you're convinced that since it's bigger, you'll get more money for it! Haha!
You absolutely LOVE sports, and you are at your happiest when you're competing and playing your hardest. This past year, you and your brother did kickball at the Y once things with COVID-19 settled down. On April 22nd, you actually caught two or three fly balls, and it was pretty impressive, especially because you made a double play!
You're playing t-ball this year and love it. You're a solid hitter, and your favorite position to play is first base. You've made some pretty awesome plays there, in fact! During one of your earliest games, you made a great play at first base and got two kids out in a row. But each time, you loudly exclaimed to the coach at first, "Why is she not getting off the base!? I got her out!" (It was hard for you to understand that in T-ball, you guys are kind of just playing for fun and not to actually get people out.)
Basketball is still your favorite sport. You play in the house daily with Carson. And frequently, you boys pretend you're Luca Doncic from the Maverick s or Giannis from the Bucks. In fact, one time when you were playing basketball at the church with your cousins, you were Michael Jordan! You kept yelling, "Pass it to Michael!" or "Jordan's open!" It was the absolute best! Right now, you are doing a basketball class at the Y, and watching you play on teams is one of my very favorite things. You are running and hustling the entire time. You are always on top of whoever has the ball, regardless of who you are supposed to be guarding. You want it so bad, and you try your best and then some to get it. It makes me so incredibly proud of you.
You love it most when our whole family is around - Daddy, me, you, and Carson. If Dad isn't around and you do something really cool that you're proud of, you'll say, "Mom, can you tell Dad about this?" And inevitably if Daddy isn't home at bedtime, you're really sad about it. And I guess it's the same if I'm not around.
You no longer call your little friend Hudson "Huxson" anymore, which makes me really sad! But occasionally, you call roundabouts "Merry-Go-Rounds." Sometimes you still call Netflix "Thetfilx" and instead of free throws, you still sometimes say "three throws." You and Carson have your own basketball team called the Ruffies, and it's composed of all the best basketball players of all time. (I still have no idea where you guys got the name "Ruffies"!) I also remember a time that you, Carson, and Daddy were watching a Cavaliers basketball game. But you kept calling them the "Cavaliters" and it was just the cutest! One of my very favorites is that you call North Dakota "Northakota."
You still hate peanut butter, sandwiches of any kind, tomatoes, and now you hate chicken nuggets. "Eggie toasts" (a runny egg inside the center of a toast) is one of your favorites. Cheesy noodles will always hold a place in your heart. And you could eat popcorn for days. Sour candy is your favorite, and you love minty gums.
You are definitely aware of your surroundings, especially people. If I wear a different lipstick color, you notice. If we sit next to each other in Sacrament meeting, I can tell you're really listening to my voice as we sing. You once even told me that you love my singing voice. If I'm dressed up nice for the first time in a while, you tell me I look pretty. If I'm sad, you give me kisses and hugs until I feel better. If I'm crying hard about something, you'll hold my face in your tiny hands and say, "Just breathe Mommy. Take a deep breath and breathe for me" (apparently he thoroughly picks up on things I find myself telling him... And then he reminds me of those words when I most need them). You brighten each day, and you make my whole life so wonderful. Thank you for everything you do, my sweet little Sawyer. And happy 6th birthday!
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