TODAY WAS THIS KIDDOS 9TH BIRTHDAY!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY B!

Because one of his cousins was going to be gone on Friday (his actual birthday), we celebrated on Thursday.  B does not like surprises, but he told us he wanted a surprise this birthday.  So, the cousins did it up good.  B woke up earlier than expected - they hoped to pull off their silly string surprise by waking him up.  However, that did not happen.  So, I found an excuse to send him downstairs.  As he came back up, he was ambushed by his cousins.  There was a couch close by, so he fell face first on the couch so his back got the most of the silly string.  Here is his backside after the ambush.

Here is the front side.  The younger two were still asleep and they were very upset they missed it (we had about a 10 minute window in which we could do the silly string given the crazy schedule of all the cousins coming and going.)  B loved it so much though, that we might have to make it a tradition - that the birthday person gets silly stringed sometime on their birthday.

For his birthday, we could not decide what to do, so kept it simple.  We called up one of his cousin's friends, who was the same age and invited him along (the kid in the middle).  We had lunch at DQ and then went bowling.  (JB went bowling, but when the picture was taken, he was throwing a fit.  Also missing from the picture was oldest cousin Kelsey.  She and I were talking trash about who would win.  We were neck and neck the whole game - actually she had a slight lead.  She threw one bad ball and it happened to be the last one, so I ended up on top by 4 pins.  We also had to play our game with bumpers, so the score probably would have tipped in her favor because I would have had a few last second gutter balls but the bumpers saved me.)

JB did many "yay" dances.

Jbird got to use the prized Sponge Bob Ball

Despite what it looks like, the birthday boy did not drop the ball on his foot.

I managed to get a group shot, without rabbit ears and antlers and with decent smiles!

We did an ice cream cake from DQ.  He got some books and drawing stuff, as well as Game Stop gift card and cash for his birthday.

Hard to believe he is half way through 'his time at home!' Who would have known 9 years ago that this kid would rock our world. He was speaking in full sentences at 2 and has not stopped since then. He has an amazing memory, whether he reads it, hears it or sees it. His laugh is hilarious (he recently went to see Monster University with 2 of his cousins and they got the biggest kick out of hearing him throughout the movie - get to laughing so hard that he can't stop). He gravitates towards the tech-y things and loves to read. He has a strong will about him that often can get him what he wants. (I think my all time favorite story of him - that I shared at some point on the blog - was when he had just recently turned three. He had asked me for something and I told him no. Well, he was not satisfied with that answer. So he decided to wait until his dad came up. I was upstairs working on the computer and I could hear the conversation down stairs. B wanted something and had asked his dad about it. After a few words, his dad said that I would need to be consulted. As B trailed JR up the stairs, I could hear B saying "okay, Dad, you need to go in there and say 'Hun, B wants....". He was totally coaching his dad on how to approach me about this issue.) He has a soft, compassionate side to him - helping with his brothers or friends. I love that he still wants me to lay down with him and that he still calls me 'Mommy'!

Praying for many more years...how exciting to see how God's plan for him will begin unfolding as he continues on this journey called life.