Joey's 10th Birthday Party

Well, June sorta flew by us with so much baseball for both boys. So, I told Joey that we could consider a birthday party in July instead. So, we threw a very last minute "come if you can" birthday party for him on Wednesday night. We played basketball at our house, took the boys to the park and played wiffle ball and kick ball, then came back home for pizza, watermelon, and cookie bars, and then played in the driveway! The boys all had so much fun. They were such a nice, respectful group of boys, too! Joey was in his element....Joe and I have decided that he will definitely be the one to throw the party, and he has a friend named Anthony, who we think will shut down the party. When they are 16, I should probably question their nights out together....and, follow them around town.

But, in the meantime, here are some photos!

Joey at 10 Years Old looks like this:
* LOVES MUSIC. He is now starting to listen to his headphones in his bed, in the car, while playing Legos.
* He is a dancer. This kid has moves and is not afraid to show them. We went to Des Moines Golf for fireworks on the 4th of July, and he walked right out onto the dance floor and started dancing.
* He is really wanting to grow up lately. He asks things like "How long will it be until I drive?" and "Someday, will you let me ride my bike all by myself with a friend?" and "What age do you get a girlfriend?" and "When can I have a phone?" and "Mom, seriously, there are NO boys who are 10 who take naps." haha- that's when I tell him he needs to rest!
* He loves trying new things and isn't scared. For his birthday, he asked for lacrosse sticks. We watched a lacrosse game one day, and the next day he said to me "Mom, if I don't make the high school basketball team, I think I will just play lacrosse." Um, okay....
* He is motivated by competition mostly. He's not so much motivated by reward systems, toys, bribes, or even self-motivation. An example of this is when I took him to the gym to work on basketball and he was being lazy and not really putting forth much effort and I was getting extremely annoyed. A kid from St. Francis walked in to the gym and all of a sudden- BAM. He started playing hard. This kid was kind of challenging him on a few things, and Joey was not having it. It was like a switch went off in his head. Another example of this is when he played one on one at the Dowling basketball camp- he made it to the very end (semi-finals, I think) and had to play this kid who was much bigger than him. He lost in overtime but three times throughout the day, he would say "I should have done this move..." or "I know I could have beat him...". I could tell it bothered him all day.
* He smiles and laughs a lot. When he plays sports, he always looks genuinely happy to be out there. And, when he's with his friends, he's just relaxed and happy.
* Basketball still remains his favorite sport. However, he thoroughly enjoyed baseball this season playing catcher.  Joe will say that usually their favorite sport is the sport they are playing at the time, and that's mostly true. But, he is most confident and most content playing basketball.
* He still loves building things, drawing, creating things out of paper, boxes, bricks, whatever he can find, Legos, etc. He is very good at independently coming up with something new to do.
* He loves playing with his dad. For the most part, he is a "coachable" kid. There are times when he resists it, but compared to some other kids we see, playing with his dad still remains the highlight of his day.
* He is great with little kids and babies. He will sit and play with Lia when everyone else is just running around her. He played with my cousin, Kason, and will do baby things and talk baby talk with them. He likes to hold babies, too. He's pretty nurturing like that.
* He doesn't give up on asking for something. He's relentless. If he wants anything at all, he will ask me every day three times a day.
* Reading is not his favorite thing to do. He likes to be read to - but doesn't enjoy independent reading.

Happy 10th Birthday to my oldest!!!