Sweet Babies Kade and Mason: Happy 5th Birthday Kade William!!

Kade. Kado. Kade Will. Kade Man. Kado the Tornado. Kade William,

My BIG big boy, I can't believe you are already 5 years old!! Seems like just yesterday we were sitting in the hospital room anxiously waiting to meet you. I look back at pictures and I can't believe how young and rested Dad and I look. You are one BUSY boy and you have been since the day you were born!! Like I tell you everyday, "You wear me out"!!!!

I love that you don't watch t.v. unless it's a show about Alaska or American Ninja Warrior. You love to watch people hunting, building things or doing obstacle courses and then you re-create it in your imaginative play. I'm sure there aren't too many 4 year old's that asked for snow shoes for their birthday like you did. Because that's what Tom, from Mountain Men, uses when he goes hunting in the winter so you thought you needed a pair too. Your favorite "action heroes" are 60+ year old men who homestead or farm for a living. You can name about a dozen area farmers and what kind of tractor they drive, even though you haven't met half of them!

And sports. Oh boy do you like sports. Every single one of them. I don't think you have a favorite sport because all of them are your favorite at any given time. Your favorite team changes depending on who you've recently spent time with. If it's Kurt (Erin's fiancee) your favorite team is Michigan. If it's Michael or Taylor, your favorite team is the Packers (or if you're being a goofball and trying to get Dad riled up). If it's Owen, it's the Badgers. But most of the time your favorite team is the Gophers or the Dover-Eyota Eagles. When you play you are usually one of those 2 teams and of course you ALWAYS, always win. I still can't get over how good you are at sports! I don't know how this is possible but you are just like Dad, naturally athletic and everything comes easy to you. You will be starting pre-school soon and your main concern is that the bus is going to drop you off at practices and games. You think school is about getting together with teammates and playing sports. You may be a bit disappointed when you realize what school is really about but you are smart. Extremely smart. And I can't wait to watch you excel academically as well!

You are still extremely shy in new situations. So much so that it hinders you from trying new things. Whenever we go somewhere unfamiliar I have to give you the usual pep talk, "It's ok to be shy but don't let it stop you from trying new things". So far my pep talk isn't working. You cling to our sides and cry if we try to make you do something you don't want to do. Hopefully you get over that soon because I don't want you to miss out on anything! I always ask you if you are going to regret not trying it. Are you going to go to bed that night and be sad that you didn't try it? Your answer is usually, "yes, you will be sad" but it's still not enough to get you out there. I'm not going to give up though!!

You may be shy in new surroundings but you are definitely a straight up goofball at home! You dance, sing, run around naked, shake your butt at us and ask us, "Are you paying for this Bun Show?!". And you wrestle! Oh how you LOVE to wrestle!! Most of the time it's with dad and Mason, you try to wrestle me but you are too strong and I usually end up getting hurt!

You are an amazing big brother. You always have one eye on Mason to make sure he is safe. You hold his hand, you let us know if he's about to do something that could hurt him, you help him down the stairs, you sing to him, you console him if he's crying. The other day Mason was walking down the driveway towards Dad, who was mowing with the tractor, and you came running into the house sobbing because you couldn't get Mason to come back and you thought he was going to get hurt. But sometimes you are the one that makes him cry. Because you can't be an amazing big brother all the time. Sometimes you have to be the annoying big brother and that's ok because even that's not that bad.

Happy Birthday to our favorite Biggest big boy! I can't believe how lucky I am that I get to be your mom!! Your very tired mama :-) We love you so, so much!!!