A letter to Isaac on his 5th birthday (three months late)

Dearest sweet first-born son-

What a year it has been. You have handled it with such joy and grace as we navigated the waters of a rather quick family expansion from bringing Aniyah home in November to finding out we'd have a third by the end of Summer that next year. You have beautifully become such a wonderful older brother, even when you don't want to share or love or be kind, you are overall the best of brothers to both Aniyah and Ezra.


This year (well, 2014) has been a lot of firsts for you.

We flew to Florida in March for the Pirate's Spring Training and then also flew to Chicago in May to visit our friends, the Houghs and the Olsons.

 building sand castles

you really wanted to find a "dinosaur bone" at the beach, so we hid this alligator claw for you to find

 At the beach with our friend Lucas

 I think your favorite color was red while we were at the beach.

 With your buds: Cooper and Zain in Target

 Chi-town

You learned to ride a bike with no training wheels lickety split!  You got this big kid bike from Meme and Papa at Christmas and were a champ on it with the training wheels on, but after we visited our friends in Chicago and you saw Zain jump on a bike with no trainers, you did the same. You are so brave, you are so fearless. If you put your mind to something you can and will do it. And in August, Jaxson W gave you his "six year old bike" which you quickly mastered even though your feet didn't touch the ground when you were seated on it. You used the curb to get on and get off without falling. Amazingly smart!

 funny faces

 Always prepared to defend your family.

 Just saying Hi to the horses down the road, taking a break from riding your bike.

Every time we are out walking/riding your bike, you find flowers to pick for me and now for Aniyah as well.

We said good-bye to our dear friends the Greers as they moved off to Joplin. Nora was one of your first best friends. You still talk about her and love her so dearly. You recently had a dream that you had a "rock-star band" and she was one of the singers in it.  She wore pink and you and your boy friends all wore blue, of course.

They visited us for a weekend for Aniyah's second birthday party in October, it was such a blast!

You also said goodbye to your dogs as we lovingly passed them on to some friends who were ready and so willing to take them in and love them. You still miss them, we all do, but were so brave about saying good-bye. It was so hard.

We had a going-away-party for Winston and Charlie.

We went to the lake house to spend a week with Grammie and went back to Tweetsie Railroad, which you loved!  you loved the cowboys and the horses, and the trains too of course. You were ready and excited to ride the big rides this time around.

 This makes your Grammie's heart soar, reading books to you!

 cowboy Isaac

On the Merry Go Round

You completed your 3rd year of swim school!  You are a champ and doing so great swimming!  You have ALWAYS loved the water!

We made several family trips to the zoo, played outside in the kiddie pool, played with water, watched movies outside on our back deck, had s'mores, you camped outside in a tent with Abi for the first time ever and LOVED it, we played in the rain, got a snow cone or two, ate popsicles that we made, went to the coffee shop. We had the best summer together!

 daily we were outside splashing in the little pool

 splashing in the rain

 snow cones

 sharing your chocolate milk with your sister at Erly Rush

 patiently waiting by the front door for Abi to get home

 creating art

 making chocolate pudding

 book club party in your bed

 aquarium

 s'mores!

 watching Aladdin on our back deck

 donuts with chocolate and sprinkles are your favorite

you and Abi are twins!

You started pre-k, you started school this past year. It has been so difficult for me to have you away ALL day, five days a week, but you really love it. THe first week was the hardest as you had to learn new people, new routines, new expectations. You hated it. In fact, the first day I took you and walked you to your class room you ran towards the front of the school and cried and clung to me. It was pretty awful. But you quickly made friends!  You met your best friend, Maverick, and within weeks could tell me the names of everyone in your class, and even a lot of kids from the other classrooms too. Mrs. Bryant has been very impressed with you. And it has been incredible to watch you learn, you know your letters and numbers and you love to practice writing them. Your coloring is fantastic!  Really different as you use lots of different colors within a single shape. I'm saving (probably wayyyy too many) most of  the things you bring home because I'm so impressed.

First day of school!  With your new spiderman back-pack and "captain american" shoes.

This year you started two shops!  The box shop, and the mud shop!  Your box shop is a huge box that a recliner chair came in, I poked holes in the top and put christmas lights in it. You and Aniyah play in it A LOT out in the garage when the weather is nice especially. You collect all sorts of things in there, mostly sticks and dirts and rocks. You also have your mud shop in our garden. You are always creating something out in the mud shop and you stay busy with your creativity for hours at a time while Abi is in the garden.

This was our fourth year to go to the Pumpkin Patch!  We took Jaxson and went with our friends the Wallinfords too. It was a perfect fall day. For Halloween you were Spiderman of course.

 You love to sing songs, you sing all the time, especially the songs you are learning at school. A favorite one you learned around Halloween is something like "when all the cows were sleeping, and the sun had gone to bed...up jumped a scarecrow, and this is what he said 'I"m a dingle-dangle scarecrow with a flippy floppy hat, I can shake my hands like this and shake my feet like that. I'm a dingle-dangle scarecrow with a flippy floppy hat, I can shake my hands like this, and shake my feet like that, shake my feet like that.'" If Ezra is ever crying you start singing that to him and he stops and smiles at you almost instantly!  Pretty sweet!

Snuggling with my two boys, Isaac on the outside and Ezra in my belly.

 First time meeting your brother

 Every morning before school and as soon as you got home you wanted to hold Ezra

You are the best BIG brother!

Sliding with Aniyah in March 2014

Easter 2014

Mission's Sunday 2014 representing Ethiopia

Family pictures done in October 2014

A cozy fall morning, fall 2014

brothers in bowties, February 2015

What can I say, you are simply full of all the good things in life: Laughter, Energy, Creativity, Joy and Love!We are always proud of you, always thankful for you, always prayerful for you!  You are our dearest boy, Isaac and we will love you no matter what. Keep growing in the Lord. Keep doing what is right, always. Keep learning and praying and loving so well. We cannot wait to see what you do with this life you have been given.  Cannot wait to see what you become!  We are soaking up every minute of your creative energy!  Four was a crazy but wonderful year! Five is starting out to be pretty amazing as well!

Love always, Emayah