6 years old!

It is official.  Last week on the 18th the boys turned 6.  So crazy. Many times in the past couple of weeks I have had the thought "6 years ago at this time I was .......".  It's very strange.  Instead of focus on the sadness that they are no longer sweet little babies.  I will talk about some of the upsides to 6.

They got Ninjago books.  Oh my.  Reading these books to them is a form of torture but THEY LOVE THEM.  

1.  They clothes themselves (to some degree).
2.  They feed themselves (to some degree).

I had to make 2 birthday cakes because Alex wanted "banilla" and Eli wanted chocolate.  If you look at the 2nd pic closely you will see that Addie became a bit impatient waiting for the cake to be cut.  :)

3.  They sleep through the night (to some degree).
4.  Going out for the night without them no longer involves 2 typed pages of instructions (not exaggerating) and so much prep that by the time you get out the door it hardly seems worth the 2 hours you manage to be away without worrying about them.  Now were are out the door in 30 seconds and kicking up our heels in the driveway (I may be exaggerating a little).
5.  On Saturday Mornings (when we have no place to be) we can send them to the TV and doze a bit until the sun comes up. (They still wake quite early).
6.  No middle of the night feedings for two.  Not sure how I survived this.  I still remember the nauseous feeling I had some nights.  I was literally sick from tiredness.  Ugh.
7.  No middle of the night arguments with Jared.  (See above).  It didn't happen much at all and now it makes me laugh BUT we had a couple of good ones.  I'll never forget when he asked me to shut the bedroom door because the light was in his eyes.  (I love you honey!  and in case this seems like a dissatisfied wife's rant it is not.  He was SUPERDAD then and continues to hold his title. However, we were BOTH exhausted!)
8.  This age is hysterical!  Eli was asking some questions recently that made me squirm.  It was kind of like I may have to have "the talk" with a 6 year old.  In fact at one point I said "That's a good question for Dad" (This coming from a Mom who wants Very open and honest communication with her boys.  Not my finest moment.)  Anyways, it finally boiled down to him saying "So when a Mom and Dad fall in love God gives them a baby?"  "Yep, pretty much" was my response.  To which, he replied "Hmm, that's pretty impressive?"

Poor Eli is not animated AT ALL.  Such a wallflower. ;)

9.  You can have logical conversations about how to treat others and it challenges YOU in the process.  Love that.
10.  You get to live a sort of childhood through them.  Don't worry not in a "Toddlers in Tiara's" kind of way.  For example, this weekend at the water park Eli realized that he was big enough to ride the water slide BY HIMSELF.  He was nervous and scared and brave and it was just really fun to remember what that felt like.

There are SO many other beautiful things about parenting that I can't even begin to touch on and while this list is mainly just silly, I am so blessed to have been given the gift of Alex and Eli for this past 6 years.  I have been taught more through them than I could ever have imagined.  They have changed our marriage, our lives, our relationship with God ALL for the better.  They will always be our miracles.  We love you guys!