Great to be 8!!!

Erik turned 8 on Saturday. I can't believe it! I was hoping to have his party that day, but I really wanted his party at the church so we could play a bunch of sports, however, the church was being used for a wedding that day, so we had the party today!

On his birthday, he went to free indoor soccer trial and really enjoyed it. We stopped at the library as well. He opened gifts all throughout the day and played with them/read the books as he opened them. With our snow storm, we were way behind with our yard work and we thought we had only one more compost pick up before the 5 month break for winter, but it turns out we have next Tuesday as well. We didn't know that on Saturday, though, and worked really hard in the yard, raking, burning sticks, and cleaning up the leaves after they had finally thawed out. That seems to be something Erik will be doing on his birthday a lot, raking leaves!

He wanted to go to Wendy's for dinner.  Yard work increased everyone's appetite because they ate a lot. The best part was that Erik ate 10 chicken nuggets!!! I was shocked! The most protein he has had in his entire life! He actually didn't even finish his cake that night, probably because he was so full!

He really likes Nebraska!

After Wendy's, he opened the rest of the presents, we had Hulk cake that Karissa made, and watched Independence Day- Resurgence. We showed the kids the original a few weeks ago and they really enjoyed it, so it was exciting to see this one.

He loved all his presents!

One Blow!

We had to take another because he forgot to put a present in his pile.

Today we had off of school, so I took the kids to Airtime, a trampoline park where Erik had a free pass to for his birthday. They jumped and played for an hour, then we rushed home to get our stuff for the party at the church where Austin led some fun Dodge ball and tag games, I taught them a soccer practice game I learned at Erik's free birthday clinic, we played games with jump ropes and hula hoops, and Karissa and Victoria taught them Pac Man tag. Besides the cupcakes and ice cream they ate, and a few minutes of present opening, they were active the entire time! I'm hoping they all sleep well tonight and eat well tomorrow!

Karissa made fondant footballs.

Erik is a great kid! He's excited to get baptized next week and has been enjoying reading a preparation book with me for that. Speaking of reading, he really loves to read! He got a few books for his birthday and started reading them right away. He told me he only wanted cars from Kroger and a Bad Kitty book for his birthday. He's very easy to please. He's by far my most time-efficient child. He's ready early for things and is definitely aware of the time before we go somewhere. Two weeks ago, I met with his teacher at conferences and she said "he is the package deal. He's smart and nice." I can't say anything better than that!

On a side note: Erik got four brackets on his front teeth on Monday. He couldn't stop looking in the mirror at them!

This is the funniest face he has ever made and it's the exact same face his cousin Calvin makes!!

Happy birthday to this great kid of ours!