Big 11!

 My baby is now 11 years old! This whole school year so far I have been very aware of the fact that this is the last year I will have a child in elementary school. This past Primary Program in church was the last time I'll have a child participate in one. Due to the recently changed age advancement in the Church, at least it seems still new to me, though I think it's been this way for many years now, Erik will be moving onto Young Men and receiving the Priesthood in January because he turns 12 next year. Our ward is shrinking and he's the oldest in Primary and then his best buddy twins are a few weeks younger than him, so they'll all be passing the sacrament as new Deacons next year. It will be so different not to have a child in Primary!

Erik celebrated his birthday last Saturday with 9 friends at our house. He had initially wanted to invite 27 friends (all boys) over to our home. I turned that down pretty quickly! We settled on inviting 15, and lucky for me, only 9 could come! Not that I wouldn't want 15 friends at our house, but it was supposed to be an outdoor sports party in our backyard, and what do you know- it was the coldest day of the season so far! I thought that could be the case, so I didn't want too many friends. The real feel was about 19 that day. Erik happens to love the cold, so it wouldn't be a problem for him, but I worried about his friends. So I planned some minute-to-win-it games to play inside. That morning, we participated in a leaf-raking service project for some ladies in our ward. Erik's twin buddies were there; they all seemed to handle the cold fairly well. By the time the party started, I was confident that we could hold at least an hour of the party outside and go from there. 

As they arrived, they played with the air hockey table in the living room.

It was great to see the smiles on all the boys' faces as they ran around the yard playing infection and Jackpot. They came in after being outside for about an hour and I was ready for them with hot chocolate and snacks. They were ready for birthday brownies by then as well, so we sang to Erik and they enjoyed their brownies before we played the M&M game, where they see who the fastest is to suck up the chocolate candies with a straw and move them to another plate in less than 2 minutes. They got to eat more chocolate after that! We played a cup-stacking game and a rock, paper, scissors tournament next. Afterward, Austin led them in a spin-off of Apples to Apples called Not Parent Approved. It's just all gross tween-boy stuff, like butt acne, cheese balls, and stinky gym bags. It's always a hit in my family, with all my kids!

I was happily inside taking pictures!

Party food and goodie bags!

Erik opened his cards and a few gifts before his friends started to leave. He and some buddies played dodgeball in our living room with a beach ball in between other games and that's what they settled on as friends were leaving. It was a pretty calm version of the game with the beach ball, but I was still nervous about something breaking. Luckily, nothing did! 

The goody bags had some mind puzzles in them, big balloons to punch around, candy, and pop-it bracelets. Everyone had a great time and though the weather was cold, at least it was sunny! It was great to celebrate with Erik's friends.

His actual birthday fell the day before Thanksgiving, as usual. We had off of school, so that was nice. My mom and Jim were here, so it made it extra special! He started the day with an edible breakfast turkey, which will have to be a tradition because he loved it! He then had the privilege of going to the dentist on his birthday (which wasn't the original plan). We had gone 2 weeks before and it turned out Erik had a cold sore that they didn't want to spread in his mouth, so he had to sit in the waiting room playing on the phone while Austin and I got our teeth cleaned. Erik was kind of annoyed because I had taken him out of the last bit of school and he had to miss the last recess. He doesn't like to miss school and especially not any recess. So, when given the option of going to his make-up appointment on his birthday morning, when there was no school or another day of leaving school early, he opted for his birthday. It was actually enjoyable because he got double prizes and lots of birthday wishes. The best part, though, was the fact that they praised him so much for his teeth hygiene, saying that his teeth hygiene looked better than most adults! He loved hearing that! It was a very fast cleaning for the same reason. He attributes it to the fact that he scrapes the plaque off his teeth after brushing and flossing. It's amazing he has such good teeth with all the candy he eats!

It's some chocolate doughnuts with bacon in the back. Pretzels for feet and chocolate chips for the eyes. A candy kiss for the beak.

And the other side of the counter, that isn't so neat for a picture, but Erik wanted to do a selfie.

Dentist appointment, before they told him how good his teeth are!

After a McDonald's lunch for almost everyone, Grandma, Grandpa, Jason, Austin, Kai, Erik, and I went to Maybury to ride bikes and walk around. The weather had warmed up and was sunny again, so we were happy to have the opportunity to go and enjoy the bare trees. When we returned we had a dinner of noodles, bread, and veggies, in honor of Erik's one and only dinner he ever eats! We watched Hocus Pocus II after dinner, as we did some final Thanksgiving prep. 

Happy boy with a McDonald's lunch!

Super fun swing!

Erik's birthday dinner!

Kai gave him an acceptance letter to Hogwarts, since he's 11 now. He loved it!

It was a great day and I was so glad to celebrate my youngest. He's still so helpful in school and his teacher this year said that he can always rely on Erik to help his fellow students with things they don't understand and that Erik will explain and help without giving the answers. He has a lot of friends, is a great leader, and loves to play games, active and board games. He loves to read, play soccer, build with Legos, and be on time. He especially loves geography and knows the location of more countries than most adults do! In addition to that, he knows random facts about states, countries, and landmarks, plus all the capitals of the US states. He now likes to eat fried eggs, but not very often. At least it's something new and different. He really loves the Orgain protein drinks from Costco that are full of all sorts of good things, though I don't think he realizes that, and brings one to school every day with his bag of goldfish crackers. He had stopped eating lunch altogether because of the smells in the cafeteria that were bothering him, so he was only eating a bag of goldfish in class for a snack in the whole 7+ hours he was at school. He decided to try the drink one day and was hooked- I'm so happy! I just have to make sure I have them on hand all time. 

We love Erik and are so happy to be able to celebrate him!