what seven year old boys like

We are just completing the week of celebration for William's 7th birthday. What I didn't understand before becoming a parent was that birthdays are really a series of events for a kiddo...not just one day. For us that means that we have a mini family celebration on the day of the person's birthday where they get to pick the meal choice, get the gifts from Mom and Dad, and it is basically just a fun little family day which occurs on a weekday most times. Then there is the day where the birthday child gets to bring something into school to share. Sometimes we make it at home, sometimes it is bought. And finally there is the party with friends. A lot of this complicated celebration ends when a child gets older like Jordan. No longer does she desire to have me bringing cupcakes up to school (big grin here) and even her party style has changed. There is no need for an elaborate theme because middle school girls just like to talk and eat goodies together.

William turned 7 a week ago and I can't believe that this tall boy is the cute little baby I birthed that many years ago. He's over my shoulders height-wise and weighs 60 pounds. William is obsessed with all things Lego, Star Wars, and scientific. I'm so proud of the kind hearted spirit he exhibits. Just the other day in soccer practice he put his arm around a fallen teammate to comfort him. The prayers that he prays at night bring me to tears most time. I used to make him go through the whole family list and do our standard prayer. Now I just let him freeform and he completely blows me out of the water with the things he says to God. It's one of my favorite moments of the day.

I love the special "Book of Inventions" he keeps on top of his lego storage. It's like a journal of his ideas. He's so different from Jordan and yet he adores her so much. Over the summer she endowed him with some Magic Treehouse books that she had long outgrown and you would have thought it was a gold gift. He couldn't wait to discuss those books with her everyday. I love how he plays with Grace as if they are best friends. Dare I say he even tolerates her bossing him around at times? His language world is exploding right now and it's so fun to see him using big words with very few teeth in his mouth. First graders are at a fun age.

Our celebrations began on the September 7th, his actual birthday. William wanted to go to eat crab at Joe's Crab Shack so we met up with Dave's Dad and Ms. Mary there after church. William faked being too scared to do the "chicken dance" by himself and managed to talk both sisters into going up there with him. Jordan was mortified when she saw that I had plenty of embarrassing pictures in action. It was a fun afternoon. We gave William the Mario Kart game for the Wii so you can bet that plenty of racing happened on our television after that. We've all enjoyed the competition since then.



On Sunday night William and I made birthday cupcakes for his class. He recalled a recipe we made when he was in PreK and wanted to bring it again. It is a cupcake that you cook in an ice cream cone. Once cooked you then ice it and add sprinkles so it looks like ice cream. They were not exactly beautiful, but William was ever so pleased to take them to school the next morning. He insisted on Auburn colored sprinkles to decorate them.



Then this past Saturday we took William and his buddies to see Star Wars Clone Wars. Believe it or not, all those cute little boys were well behaved at the movies. My parents came over and my sister brought her family as well. It was a busy, but fun weekend. Happy Birthday William!