12th Birthday!

It's been pretty busy around here lately, hence the reason I haven't blogged since Jason's birthday and there were tons of things to blog about, except for I was doing all of those things and didn't have time! No complaints here about that! It was so nice to go to the orchestra concert, dance recital, choir concert, and soccer games. They will be posted later.

For now, let's talk about Austin! He has had a tough school year. I would say that his actual birthday was an okay day, but with the entire week, it was a great one!

The weekend before his birthday his soccer team participated in the Canton Cup. It's a soccer tournament that brings in teams from all over Ohio and Michigan (usually Canada too). A parent collected goodies for a goodie bag for the players on our team to enjoy. That was like an early gift for Austin with all gum, treats, drinks, and even a fidget spinner that were included. To top it off, his team played super well all three games and made it to the final, where they beat that fourth team, winning them the Canton Cup for their age group! Austin was so thrilled to be able to hold that trophy and earn the medal! 

Goodie bag loot!

Running onto the field for the big game!

I have better pictures of him playing during the season than this, but I had to snap a few during the Cup. 

Look at that grin!

The FC Tigers! A great team with a great coach!

The day before his birthday was his last piano lesson and we gave him an early gift right before the lesson- The Legend of Zelda series music for piano. Now he can start playing some video game music for his summer lessons. 

His birthday morning came very early. It was an A day and one of the last days of orchestra at the high school, so I woke him up with Birthday, by the Beatles. He ate his requested Panera Bread cinnamon bagel and off he went with his sisters at 6:55 am. He got to bring a special Panera Bread mac and cheese for lunch as well. After school, it was raining hard and he had a fair amount of homework to do, which we were trying to avoid by helping him get ahead, but he had a couple of extra math assignments that we weren't expecting. We wouldn't have made a big deal about it, but they had to turn in their Chromebooks by Friday and would no longer be able to do work on that, nor turn in any late work, so we encouraged him to push through. We took a break for his requested Wendy's dinner (he loves their Son of a Baconator), chocolate cake, and the opening of presents. 

Mmmm, cinnamon bagel!

He requested a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and Oreos on top!

Two kids in middle school with braces!

He got a bathing suit and bug spray. He had 20 mosquito bites a few weeks ago and it was not pretty! He must have pretty tasty blood for those mosquitoes!

Mostly, his gift was a Nintendo Switch, which is more money than we usually spend on one child's birthday gift. He did have a little bit of time to set it up after finishing his homework. He bought a game the other day too, with some of his birthday money. And he loved the other books, socks, and games sent to him in the mail by family members. They're right up his ally!

We haven't decided how he will celebrate with friends yet, so that is in the works. Right now, we want to make it through these last 5 days of school. It's been a tough school year for Austin, but he has pushed through. He's gotten mostly A's the whole school year and is in the advanced math class so he has earned those A's. We had to push him to focus, especially during the at-home learning. 

He has really enjoyed his science, choir, orchestra, and gym classes. He really liked LME (Life Management Education) the first semester as well. He made it to the finals of the school Spelling Bee, which I had no idea he was even participating in! He's a great reader, loves jokes and random facts, loves mind games, rebuilding Legos, and music. He impersonates Rick Asltey's Never Gonna Give You Up song very well! He has come a long way with his soccer and piano skills and enjoys his medals from both!

The best thing is watching him pass the sacrament at church and at home. He takes his Priesthood Duties very seriously and enjoys attending the Deacon's Quorum meetings with Jason (most have been on Zoom, but they just started meeting in person).

Happy 12 Birthday Austin!!