Craiger's 12th Birthday

Happy Birthday to my sweet little Craiger.  I can't believe that he is 12 years old already.  How does the time fly like that?  It's crazy.

We had family in town for his birthday so he is kind of getting "lots of birthdays" this year.

The night of his birthday, while family was still here, we made Pepperjack Chicken Enchiladas for his birthday dinner.  It's his very favorite.  Lorien made it for him.  My Uncle Dale got a cute video of her singing as she was making dinner.  I'm going to miss my little singing chef when she leaves for culinary school.

She made dinner while I taught piano lessons.  Then we all sat down & celebrated Craiger.

After dinner we opened up some presents, which is Craiger's favorite part.

Nancy got him some adorable NASA shirts,
some rocks for his tumbler, a space tie, & an
awesome gemstone digging set for his 
special birthday trip to the German gemstone mines.

Whitney & Keaton brought him a gift since
they knew they'd be here on his birthday.
Craiger LOVES lego!

Mimi & Baba got Craiger a watch & a stone bracelet.

Opa & Oma got him a solar robot to build himself.

His brothers & sisters got him a pokemon
(that came 3 days later. . . you just never know with
the mail here.)

Trek & I got him a pair of new roller blades since
his feet are growing right now.  He LOVES
roller blading.

We called Tony, the gelato man, & he whipped up some freshly made gelato for Craiger's birthday.  It was SO sweet.  I'm going to miss Tony when we move.  He came in 25 degree weather (It was FREEZING) & still brought us some yummy gelato to celebrate with us.

We were nuts to be eating ice cream when it was freezing outside.  But it was SO MUCH FUN.

My Aunt, Uncle, & cousins tried the spaghetti eis & loved it.

Two days after his birthday, we celebrated his birthday breakfast so his sisters could be there.  They don't have early morning seminary class on Thursdays.

He chose english muffin breakfast sandwiches, bacon, grapes, & a cupcake.

12 years old!

Craiger is such a happy, loving, kind young man.  He's a friend to everyone, loves school, & Is just a happy boy.  We love him so much.

For his birthday party this year, I let him invite 2 friends to come with us to Idar Oberstein on March 17th & 18th.  We have them signed up to participate in a gemstone camp where they will get a chance to dig in the mines for 2 hours & collect their own gemstones.  We will also be doing a tour of the mines as well.  He is SO excited (as are his 2 best friends.). It's going to be a fun mini-trip with just him & his buddies.  We can't wait.