5 Years Already?

Gunnar turned 5 this month. Kind of weird. I have a kid heading off to school this coming year and boy is he excited. And we are so excited seeing him excited. As we are planning to head to Hawaii in September for Mindy and Rillz's wedding, we realized that we get to deal with the school system as we are gone for about 10 days. Oh man, forgot about that part. Not really looking forward to basing my life around the school schedule. Anyway...

Gunnar gets so excited about his birthdays. He gets more excited about his themed cake more than he does the presents. Last year, the day after his Scooby Doo party, he already had his mind made up that he was going to have an Ironman birthday this year. He never changed his mind. Not.a.single.time! He stuck to it. The funny party is the cake is the only themed item at our parties. I thought that I would suprise him with Ironman dessert plates or something but I cheaped out when they were a ton of money for 8 measly plates. Not doing it to see them thrown away. Money down the drain I tell ya. Heidi and Ren do an amazing job. Even though Heidi says that she just bakes it and Ren sculpts, her cakes taste really good. This years tasted really good for whatever reason, or maybe it was because I am not a cake person and this is where I get my yearly fill of cake. Last year it was made clear that this would be his birthday present from Ren and Heidi. Why get him something on top of this awesome creation. People pay lots for cakes like these. They are very generous in doing this. Gunnar is pretty sure he gets to pick Brecken's this year. Sorry boy but I get to until he can decide.

We had cousins and two of our friends with kids come this year.

One of our friends have twin boys that just turned two. Whit is one of them slurping down the Caprisun. Ann mentioned that they have never had one before. They were in heaven. They are also full of energy, so our goal was to get them worn out. I think we succeeded. They were everywhere.

Our other friends have a little girl. Gunnar and Paige are buddies. They are way to funny together. She is about a year younger. She had us laughing while opening presents. She had the best expressions. She would get overly animated and excited about the gift. It definately kept all of the adults fully entertained. Jack, the little boy that Mindy nanny's, also came. He came last year and we love it when he comes. The funny thing is that Gunnar and Jack see each other just a couple of times a year but they always talk about the other and wondering what each other are doing and always remember one another.

We love Gunnar so much. He is a great big brother and a great cousin to all of his cousins. He gets excited for other people. He is a huge people person. Friendly to everyone. He does not know an enemy. He says the funniest things. Sometimes I wonder what is going on in his little brain. He is all boy and does the yuckiest things. He burps like the best of them and talks about farting and ...ya it goes on and on. Everyone is trying to teach him and make him realize that his teachers are not going to tolerate his potty talk and behavior and that kids at school aren't going to want to be friends either. He doesn't get it. I hope he figures it out before school. He is very attentive. After family home evenings, he will tell Heidi everything that he learned on their drives to Boise. Sometimes I wonder if he listens but he does. He has an amazing memory. He remembers the craziest stuff. Sometimes we think he remember things because he hears us talk about it over and over again but then he will throw in a memory that we have never talked about or don't even remember. His little brain remembers. He loves to do anything with the family. He loves his family including all of his grandparents and aunts and uncles. I love that he has close relationships with them. I hope it stays that way. He loves his scooter. He is a great helper...when he wants to be. He is pretty stubborn and is always soooo tired when he doesn't want to do anything.

He is such a cutie and growing up way too fast. We are so excited for the next phase in his life. We love you Gunnar!

Stats: He is 39.8lbs (50th percentile) and 44.5in tall (75th percentile). I asked Dr. M if those were really correct. He has never been over about the 20th percentile in anything. They were correct.