Happy Birthday Andrew!

Andrew turned 5 last week!  Five?!?  If you know our little guy you know he likes to talk about several things:  his birthday and his Halloween costume.  Mawmaw came and took him to lunch for his birthday and they went shopping.  His two favorite things collided as he celebrated his birthday AND got a costume.  If you are counting we now have 6 costumes to pick from for Halloween.  Ha!

I wish I had kept a running list of all the things he wants to be for Halloween this year.  It would be a really long list.
Sunday morning (his actual birthday) he woke up to a balloon, candy and a card at his place at the table.  Then we took donuts in to his SS class.  He was pretty fired up.  Several hours after church we met up at Incredible Pizza for the party to begin.  We played/ate for 2 1/2 hours.  It was a blast.  By the time we left my head was ringing.  Ringing I tell you.  Andrew was grinning from ear to ear.  He loved every minute of it.  Worth every minute...

This was the only picture I got.  Honestly, I was more concerned with keeping up with this precious crew than snapping pictures.  I took lots of mental pictures!  Thankfully, Aunt Janice was there to capture a few.  Does he not look like Clayton in these pictures...with brown hair and brown eyes?

Once the party was over we collapsed headed back to church and then hit the bed.  Andrew woke up Monday morning and asked if it was still his birthday.  I told him no.  He said, "Oh man!  I told you I wanted my birthday to last a week!"  Bless him.  He did think it was a week (possibly a month) because here's the list of things he wanted to do for his party:
-Go to Holiday World
-Go to the beach
-Go to Sky Zone
-Go to Jump Zone
-Play Laser Tag
-Go to Incredible Pizza (check)
-Play at Shelby Farms
And a few other things that I forgot...
He ran over this list several times as if I should be taking notes.  Maybe I should have been taking notes, whoops.

I cannot believe the caboose, swan song, finale of the Shackelford family is 5.  He talks incessantly and demands attention. (Can you say baby of the family?!?)  He says so many funny things that I just want to video his life so I don't miss a moment.  He loves "the big boys"/"the brothers" and wants to be just like them.  He is brutally honest...sometimes when he opens his mouth I have a moment of panic wondering what will come out...and then other times his words are so incredibly sweet and loving it will bring a tear to my eye.  He (might) have a little flare of drama in him.  He loves to be around people.  He usually wakes up asking, "What are we going to do today?"  He is not a risk taker, unless he witnesses the big boys doing it.  When I look in to his eyes I see a reflection of myself.  He definitely has my genetic features.  I cannot believe God entrusted him to us.  He is a joy.  I love him, more than words can express.  Happy 5th birthday sweet Andrew!