My biggest kid

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAXTON!
This picture was taken at 2 am the morning of Paxton's birthday. Ryan and I were finishing
some of the decorations. I worked the day before and will have to work the day after Gauge's birthday. That doesn't give me a lot of time to get things done that need to get done.

Ryan is such a sweetheart. 2am when he should be calling me crazy he is sitting on the kitchen floor with me blowing up balloons after I got home from work. We went over what we would need the next day for Paxton's cake and what the plan was. I loved every minute of it! 2 am pictures in the living room. Balloons everywhere. It was worth it too because Ryan and I woke up to Paxton whispering to Gauge "Gauge, its my birthday, I am five" over and over. Gauge's reply was "Ba loon!!" over and over and over. They were pretty excited! When I woke up I looked over at Ryan and he was listening too. We just smiled.

Pax wanted a spider man cake this year. So did Gauge. As far as I was concerned Pax had already had one and it should be Gauge's turn to have one if he wants one. So I took Paxton and we searched for cool cakes on the Internet trying to decide what he would want more than a spider man cake. We finally found it. A Volcano cake. It was a close one though, I almost had to build a log cabin out of candy. I think I lucked out on this one!

I kind of had an idea about how I would make the cake. It took some searching online to figure out how to make the lava flow. Also, it was supposed to have gummy worms coming out the top but I tell you, the one thing that was not at Walmart....was gummy worms. So he didn't get it. They do have Dry ice however, if anyone needs it at some point. We searched hi and lo to find out later that Walmart carried it.

So, Wa LA! Paxton's birthday cake.Ryan went to the store twice to help me get everything I needed. I needed a third cake mix to create the size...he also found me the dry ice, he even found me five cool dinosaurs. I wasn't as prepared as I thought! We ran out of icing so Ryan and I came up with the idea to put Paxton's name in matches. We super-glued them to the pan.

Paxton was really happy about his cake. I didn't get a picture but his face dropped when he saw it. He kept trying to sneak into the kitchen to see the progress as the morning went on. The other exciting part of his birthday is that Dan and Sarah were coming for dinner and his birthday party. The boys played all day, they had a blast! We were going to try to carve our pumpkins but dinner got started a little late and it was gloomy and rainy...so all together that canceled out the carving.

We ate dinner when Dan and Sarah arrived. Ryan and I had been testing out the volcano lava in cups trying to figure out how it would all work out so we would be prepared for Paxton.

Gauge loved the cake too. He told me that night that he also wanted a volcano cake...not a chance kid!

We sang happy birthday, he ate it up. In fact, he sang happy birthday to Paxton all day long.
I can't believe he's five!
The cake went over well. We got the dry ice going and the volcano smoked the whole time we carved cake. Then we had extra so Ryan got busy making sure everyone had smoke coming out of their drinks...
Sarah and I made sure that Shelby had some cake and Ice cream. It was her first time for cake. She wouldn't smile, she just waited for the next spoon full! She was super serious about it!
I think she liked it!
Grandma sent Paxton and Gauge some presents. Paxton absolutely loves BYU football, so she made sure to send him a tee shirt
He is going to try out baseball now. I can't wait!
Because its too hard for Gauge to watch Paxton be the only one to open presents we decided to let Gauge open one of his presents on Paxton's birthday, and Paxton will open a present on Gauge's birthday.
Today, they got guns. Not just any gun either. These ones make shooting noises and cocking noises as you use them. Gauge has rifle and Pax got the shot gun.

Dan and Sarah brought one of the best presents of the night. A police officer dress up kit. He got the whistle, the badge, the cuffs, the ID, a dart gun and...

the glasses

We laughed so hard!

Not Paxton though. He takes these roles very seriously! He wore the glasses all night!

After all of the presents were opened we all hung out for awhile. The boys soon tired and we got them to bed as quickly as possible and Ryan and I took a breather with Dan and Sarah. It felt good to sit.

Its hit me all day though, how much the time has flown by. My little man...I have been dreading this post so much.

I don't like to admit that Paxton is getting big. I have been feeling a little overwhelmed about it. I can't help but look at him and see a teenager already. I know that's being a little over the top but I don't know where the time has gone and I feel afraid because its gone so fast.

To be honest, I have been harder on this kid than I am on any other kid. I don't know why. When we first had him I worked at the hospital and dealing with little babies was not a motherly thing, it was my job. I took it very seriously and I did it well. I think that I always blamed the fact that I was harder on him-on that. But I can't help but wonder sometimes if its because he is being prepared to be the man that the Lord wants him to be and my pushing is helping to train him. The kid is so smart. He has always acted a little older than his age and I have always expected him to be older and to know better. Its not until I see other children his age that I realize how mature he is and how much I really seem to require of him.

I don't do it on purpose. I feel as though I do it because he is so special. He tries so hard to do everything right. To give you an example Paxton will not even bite a sucker until he asks me and I tell him its okay to. This is because when I first gave him a sucker I explained that the idea was-not to bite it. Don't bite it. See how long you can suck it I told him. It was a blow pop and the kid made it all the way to the bubble gum. I have never known anyone to do that in my whole life.

That is one way to explain Paxton. He does everything the best that he can. He takes it very seriously. He takes being a brother seriously, being a son seriously and being a big boy-very seriously. In fact he goes to bed in black shorts and a white tee shirt because that's what Ryan wears to bed. He wants to be like his Dad and he wants to be grown up like him.

Paxton is very interested in the gospel. I bought the Book of Mormon dvd's so that he could watch them. He almost watched the whole book of Mormon in one sitting. I was falling asleep and asked if he wanted me to turn it to cartoons. He wouldn't do it. I found out later that as interested as he was in the stories, he thought he would get to see Jesus and was disappointed when I turned it off before he saw him. His faith and love for the Lord amazes me. I love the Lord and hope that Ryan and I are examples for him but I have no idea where his sincere interest and love of the Lord comes from. It makes us proud!

Paxton loves more than anything to dress up and pretend to be someone. Whether its a soccer player, Spider man, a police officer or the Hulk he takes the part very seriously. I realized during the soccer season that he loves dressing up as a soccer player more than he loves to play the sport. I don't understand it, I was always into sports and never into acting but its fun to see him pretend and to see how much he is interested in playing these parts. I used to joke that he was going to be our Brad Pitt...but I am starting to think that might be the case-only I would prefer a Hugh Jackman :)

Paxton, I can't begin to tell you how much your father and I love you. We talk about you every day and how impressed we are with you. You talk our ears off most of the time but we are pretty used to it because you have done it since you started talking. In fact I wonder if the house will seem too quiet when you go to school. You love to learn. You love school. You are a good big brother, maybe the best. You play with Shelby all the time. Whether your pushing her around in her walker or playing hide and seek. You also help Gauge so much that he seriously misses you when you are not there. He is your little side kick and he has learned to watch you and to do what you do. I took him to the store to get his Halloween costume the other day and he continually asked me where brother was. He missed you and was concerned that you weren't with him.

You are so special Paxton. I hope that you feel that way with us!

Happy Birthday honey!!!