8 year old party!

Every year I let my kids choose their birthday party theme. As Jaxon gets older his is always sports themed :) Surprised? This year he couldn't decide between his favorite sports, so we did an "all sports" friend party and they played his 3 favorite games. Football, basketball, kick-ball. Easy enough and perfect for his group of pals. I pushed his party back a couple weeks from his actual birthday hoping for some warmer weather for outside game playing. The weekend of his birthday it was 80. The weekend of his party it was barely 55 with the wind. Go figure! It was still a fun party with lots of good friends. I'm so blessed to have some girlfriends always willing to huddle around and help for these events so I can hang out with the kids and not have to be stuck in the kitchen the whole time. One of my friends helped me make all the decorations before the party day and another perfected painting basketball sandwiches for me during it! Then a couple of guy friends came to help run the games and boy craziness control patrol. I have the best friends :) 

Still can't believe we have an 8 year old. He is growing so much. I've seen so many steps be taken in the last couple months. He's really become a great helper, aware of where a need is and offering to step in and do it. For awhile we talked about asking how we can help others during devotions and using the question "how can I help you"? This was last semester and I was pretty sure it was going in one ear and out the other. Jaxon suddenly asks me many times a day how he can help me. I love seeing him develop this characteristic. It is a cool picture to see something you've worked on become a real fruit of your labor. Jaxon is pretty "motherly" with his younger brothers, almost too much with Austin sometimes, but still very in tune to what they need or being empathetic towards them when they are upset. I don't know if it is a mix of being home more and nurturing relationships around here or just getting older and maturing or after hearing something 100 times things are setting in finally... but I am so proud of this little man of mine lately. Well, I always am, but lately he has just made me proud to be his mama. He is still a boy and has plenty of moments where I want to pull my hair out, but he has just really turned a corner here as he has welcomed being eight! He has a pretty big front, but underneath is a sensitive little spirit. He loves anything his dad likes and tries often to impress his dad. He is all sports and constantly is making up a game of some sort. He is competitive, much like his father too. He is very much a self learner. I often do something with him and he wants to just figure it out on his own. He doesn't like messing up or being late and I sometimes have to talk him through relaxing instead of stressing about little things (not that I think being late is okay, but he freaks if he thinks he will be late for school and almost never is). He loves playing with his friends and cousins, one on one time with either parent, his neighbors Tina & Rachael, watching Disney (he would be a TV junkie if I let him!!), movie and pizza night, shooting hoops in the back, playing catch with mom or dad, chasing Austin, racing cars with Austin, and exploring. He is at a really fun age and the humor of an 8 year old is, well, funny, you might say. Happy 8th year of life baby boy!!

 football strawberries!

 basketball shoot-out

 kick-ball game

 basketball sandwiches...Thanks Jen!

 Austin and Jentry sneaking food while waiting for the boys! (Thanks Kris for decoration support :)

 the little people having their own lunch party

 the boys

 eat'in time

 the things boys say around a dinner table...

 pinata time!

And I didn't even take a picture of his "cake" of choice this year! Ha! He wanted home-made apple pie instead of cake...so pie baking I did! Only one boy said to me "where's the real cake"? :-)