Karl turns 5

The years are flying by too fast for my liking.  How is Karl five already?!  He has grown and matured in many ways but yet he is still the car-and-truck-obsessed little boy that he was at age two.  Instead of lining up his cars and trucks like he did at age two, he now builds vehicles out of Legos: fire trucks, garbage trucks, ambulances, etc.

Here's Karl, starting his birthday morning with his favorite pastime: Legos.

Present opening time!  Grandma and Grandpa K came over for dinner and to celebrate with Karl.  I had bought all the ingredients to make waffles with berry sauce and whipping cream (assuming that's what he would want for this birthday - it's our standard birthday meal) but instead Karl chose Venison Barley Soup.  I was a bit shocked but I guess I can't complain when my son chooses a healthy birthday dinner (although Matt and I were really looking forward to those waffles).

Clare started this tradition of cake decorating a couple years ago.  I make a 9x13 (often with help from the birthday kid), frost it, and let the birthday kid load with his or her choice of candy... and a forklift.

One of his birthday presents was a Lego boat.  He built it all by himself and then took it apart and built it two more times.

His big box contained gardening tools, which he was super excited about.  The box was a bonus gift. He spent hours playing in it, finally asking me to cut a hole in the side.  Here's Lena visiting him in his "army tank".  He displayed army books and an army airplane on top in case the green and brown crayoning on the side wasn't obvious enough.

It's so bittersweet to see the kids grow up.  I want them to grow and mature and succeed, of course, but the preschool age is so sweet and innocent.  A couple quick things about Karl: he's good at helping and doing jobs (most of the time), he loves to play with Nora and hug Lena, he can throw a really good fit when he's overtired and cranky, Legos are his favorite toy by far, and he has great patience for things like Legos and puzzles (as long as there are vehicles on them).  We just love this kid!