Bladen's 9th Birthday

Since Bladen's birthday fell on a Saturday this year, he celebrated at school the day before his birthday.  It also happened to be "CRAZY HAIR DAY" so he looked hilarious in a Snape wig as he handed out cookies to his class.

The poor kid actually dropped his cookies into a mud puddle right before the bus came.  I had to run home & get the cookies I bought for our camping trip & take them to him so he had something to take to his class.

Bladen REALLY wanted to go camping for his birthday this year so Trek planned our ward campout for the weekend of his birthday so we could go camping.  After our camping trip we came home & showered, then opened his birthday presents from family.

My friend Nancy spoiled Bladen rotten with tons of summer
clothes, shoes, some science books, & an ice dragon for his
dragon collection.

Auntie Cari & Uncle Justin sent him a Zelda game
for his new nintendo ds.  He was pretty excited.

All the siblings got him a Minecraft game for his new DS

Mimi & Baba got him Kingdom Hearts for his DS.
He was SO excited about all these games.

Trek & I got him a case for his DS as well as a date
night with mom & dad to dinner & a movie.

Bladen also got an adorable card from Grandma Kinsfather with $10 inside, a cute card from Mamoo & an AWESOME music stand for his drum music from Opa & Oma (I don't know why I didn't get any pictures of those).

Sunday morning we did Bladen's birthday breakfast since we were camping on his actual birthday.

We had breakfast burritos, grapes, & cupcakes.

He was pretty happy.  Bladen LOVES food.  He's such a crack up.  I am scared for how much he'll eat as a teenager.  He already eats me out of house & home.

9 years old.

Then for his special birthday dinner, he wanted pepperjack chicken enchiladas, caesar salad, & apple spirals.  Yum.

Happy Birthday  Bladen.  We love you.

Here is a little something I wrote about Bladen on my Facebook page:

Happy 9th Birthday to this sweet boy of mine. He makes my life full of excitement, knowledge, & adventure! Here are 10 reasons why I love Bladen so very much!!!!

1. He is the best brother anyone could have. The way he protects & watches over both his younger brothers & his older sisters makes my heart happy. He would do anything for them.

2. He’s my math superstar. He’s always been fascinated with numbers since he was a little boy & now we enjoy seeing just how amazing his little brain is. 65 squared? No problem. The square root of 7225? Yup, he could tell you that one too . . . all in his head. AMAZING.

3. He’s my ROCKSTAR!!! This kid was born to be a drummer. He’s been playing for a little less than a year & his teacher is already talking about how he’s going to be the youngest professional drummer he’s ever seen. 

4. Bladen has the most heartwarming smile you’ve ever seen. His smile literally makes your whole heart & soul warm up with happiness.

5. Bladen is the hardest worker I’ve ever met. School is hard for him & it takes a little more effort for him to get things done than most kids his age, but he tries & tries & tries & never gives up. 

6. He is a walking encyclopedia. Have a question about sharks? Chemistry? Bugs? Bats? The Periodic Table of Elements? He devours non-fiction & usually memorizes them as he reads them. We never know what interesting tidbits he’s going to share with us at the dinner table.

7. He’s my piano prodigy. This kid is FLYING through piano books. He can play almost anything you put in front of him & it’s amazing to see how he loves it.

8. He is STRONG. . . physically & emotionally. He can climb a fire pole with just his arms & loves pull ups. Emotionally he can withstand the winds & storms that blow his way at school & shake them off without hardly a bat of an eye. If only all of us could be as resilient as he is.

9. He’s FUNNY!!! He doesn’t say a whole lot, but when he does, it’s usually hilarious & we can’t help but crack up.

10. He is mine & I wouldn’t trade him for anything in the world.