James is Five!

James turned five two weeks ago! Amazing! What a milestone for our boy. James continues to be a very thoughtful, energetic, sensitive, and smart boy. He is starting to really enjoy playing with Anna, which is great. He is interested in cars, planes, legos, books, and riding his bike. James continues to stump me with his questions about life and seems to think about big ideas for such a young guy. He is such a blessing to our family and we are so thankful he is a healthy, happy boy.

Recently, James has shown quite an interest in playing drums. He watches the drummer at church very intently every week and then comes home to practice. He’s been setting up his own drum set: his one little tom-tom drum, an old popcorn tin, an overturned Rubbermaid bin, and an overturned basket. He sits in front of his stereo and copies what he hears. We’ve been really impressed with how much he’s picking up. He’s learning dynamics: that it’s not always appropriate to wail on the drums; that playing softly is sometimes better. And, more importantly, he’s learning lyrics to quite a few worship songs. He hears them in church and then on the radio at home and I think it’s great that those words are sticking with him.

All that to say…we bought James a drum set for his birthday! Kenny and I felt that letting him go to town now while he’s so interested was important. We found a used set for a good price and were so excited to give it to him. We wrapped up the snare and hid the rest in the basement. Then Kenny brought one piece up at a time until we had the whole thing in the living room. James was SO excited! We left it up in the front room for a few days and then moved it to the basement. He’s been going down several times a day to play and Anna tags along, too. Both kids wear their ear protection, which they think is so much fun.

After much discussion, James requested a Disney Planes birthday party. I started the tradition a few years ago of letting the kids pick a theme for their party as well as the menu. This is the first year I wondered if maybe I should just choose to make it simpler. But, then I watched how excited James was to help make the decisions and just went with it. We bought Planes plates, napkins, and cups, plus a few Dusty gliders to hang from the dining room chandelier. I printed some fun signs to hang and we also gathered all of James’s airplanes to decorate.

For dinner, James chose: steak, salmon, corn on the cob, fruit salad, and a Dusty birthday cake. After much deliberation about how to make the cake, I decided to make a 9×13 orange flavored and colored cake (Dusty’s colors), blue frosting on top (the sky), and a white cloud of frosting for Dusty to sit on. It was an easier route and James loved it. A win-win!