Happy 9th Birthday, Maddox!

We celebrated Maddox's birthday on a Thursday night! We ordered pizza, had cake, opened presents and the kids all swam! It was an easy and low-key night! 

Favorite presents included new Michigan gear, new iHome for his bedroom, new Jordan bball shoes from Joe and I, a new video game, and new basketball and shorts! He also received a few family board games that we're anxious to play together in all of that free time we have! ; )

It was great watching all the kids swim! Davis stayed overnight with us and we had donuts on the morning of his birthday!

After donuts, Ali and Kelly and the kids came back over to swim!

For Maddox's friend birthday party, he had his Lightning basketball team over to swim. All of his friends brought donations for Courage League Sports, we had Papa Murphy's pizza and cookies....it couldn't have been any easier!

It was a great birthday week!! Bring on the NINES! 

Joey's 9th Birthday Party

We had a wiffle ball game planned for Joey's birthday party this year when rain struck! Boooo! The rain has ruined many games and outings for us this year. But, the show must go on and Plan B to go bowling was quickly implemented!

This year, Joey invited his Sacred Heart friends and his friends from his baseball and basketball teams so it was a mixed crowd. But, we told Joey how important it was to include both of them and introduce them to each other, etc and he did a great job. : ) It was an easy night all and all - especially after the rain sent me into panic mode!
Here's a photo of the whole group:

 Here's a photo of his Sacred Heart buddies:

 And, Joey decided to donate his gifts to Courage League Sports again this year. They were in need of small basketballs, baseball gloves, and sports wristbands! We got so much and felt so honored to give them to Courage League Sports.  We delivered them to the kids and Joey and Maddox both got to play with them....Joey warmed up right away but it took Maddox awhile. We will definitely be going back again to play with the kids soon!

I'm not sure when the kid birthday parties will end....but I will say, that Joey is completely in his element during them. He gets so excited to play with his friends that he can hardly contain himself. He got a little too rowdy on this night in fact....!

Happy 9th Birthday, Joey IV!

Joey turned nine on June 14, 2014! We had a little celebration at home and that's where he got his new set of wheels from the grandparents and us. Plus, he got a Yankees hat and a bike helmet from us, along with the annual photo book! It was a nice night at home and I think he was really surprised to get the bike! 

 We had our usual birthday celebration with family and friends at the Bud Open Softball Tournament in Carroll. I'm sad to hear this may be the last year for that as Carroll may be done hosting it. It's such an easy birthday to have and so close to my relatives, too....so it's always been nice. Joey had a Detroit Tigers bday cake and received lots of cool gifts including the movie Sandlot, Beef Jerky (his fave), a Detroit Tigers t-shirt, new books, art supplies, a new MLB video game and more! The rain and wind came in pretty fast so it was a short birthday party but it was still good!

Here's some things about my 9-year-old boy:

1- He loves working on art projects and makes up his own projects all the time. He went to drawing camp this summer and loved every minute of it! His art teacher told me that the boys were "flawlessly nice." I am unsure why that behavior doesn't happen every day at home....

2- His new thing is trying to learn card tricks and he will ask you to do the card trick 19 times with him and he will get it right on his 20th time.

3- He would play basketball over any other activity.

4- He eats every two hours and will likely cost me a fortune in meals over the years. He usually requires 4 pieces of pizza now and his favorite pizza is still cheese.

5- He's not great at playing with Saylor and when he does, it's for about 5 minutes at a time and then acts like he played with her for 30 minutes.

6- He loves to snuggle with me still and likes to give me hugs.

7- He moves at a very fast speed  no matter what he is doing. He can't sit still and constantly needs to be doing something. He will sit down and watch a tv show but other than that, his hands or feet almost constantly need to be moving.

8- He spills a lot and runs into things sometimes and breaks things a lot. This wknd in Ely, I asked him to clear the glasses from the table because there was red juice in one of them. My very next sentence was "Please do not spill, use both hands and walk carefully to the sink." Five seconds later.....two glasses spilled everywhere. Everyone else found it very amusing. 

9- I constantly have to say to him "Now, I want you to think about your next step before you do it" or "Joey, I want you to think about whether that is a really good idea" or "Joey, this is what I'm talking about....did you think that through?" I am trying to teach him to think before taking action immediately. So far, I'm not having much luck.

10- He just walked into the office and told me he wants to be a video game artist.

11- He overall is a good kid who looks out for others and his younger cousins. He's a good role model and is a good example for Maddox...especially as it relates to trying new things, not being scared, being brave, making new friends, etc. He can ease himself into almost any situation or group of friends...whereas Maddox needs his time and space. 

That's all I can say about my birthday boy right now! I can hardly believe that double digits is just around the corner....sigh.