I can’t believe our baby is 5!  Where has the time gone?  Each day with Johnny just flies by.  He is a delight to be around.  He is tender and enthusiastic and still thinks most days are “the best day ever”.   He tells me almost daily how grateful he is to have a family like ours.  In turn I tell him “oh buddy, you have no idea how grateful we are to have YOU, our Johnny boo boo” as I hold back tears.

Johnny is finishing his last year of preschool and absolutely loves school.  Everyday he is greeted happily by all of his friends.  He is eager to learn, to work, to earn money, to play, to help others, to tell a joke, and of course, to find shiny rocks.  His favorite pastime is to look for treasures and/or hunt for worms, snakes, and lizards.  He had a lot of time this summer with daddy honing his skills.  I suppose that is when his love for reptiles took over.

Naturally, Johnny requested to have a reptile birthday.  He hand picked all of his guests and asked for Kim (from Kim’s Cold Blooded Creatures) to perform a live reptile show.  At one point, he had at least 5 snakes crawling on him – a dream come true.  He also has been asking for a pet gecko for over a year.  I told him when he was 5, he could take on that responsibility.  That came sooner than I wanted.  So yes, the morning of his actual birthday I took Johnny to a pet store in Salt Lake to choose an awesome leopard gecko he named Strike.  There’s never been anyone more deserving.

Johnny recently told me he is a “sporty kind of dude”.  He loves tee-ball, soccer, swimming, riding his bike, running competitions, skiing, and recently his gymnastics ninja class.  He always wants to be a good team player, even if that means not wanting to score a goal against one of his best friends.

At home, Johnny completes our family.  He brings the wild, the happy, the tenderness we all need.  He and Charlotte are usually the best of friends and he still will always take her side first out of pure love and loyalty.  He also isn’t afraid to rile her up like every good brother should.  

Dear Johnny, happy birthday!  We all couldn’t love you any more.  Thank you for that last 5 years.  You can stop growing now.