11/23/23

 This day was a big day at our house. Not only was it Thanksgiving,  but Erik's 12th birthday!

We celebrated the previous Saturday with a sports party at the park. Luckily,  the weather was perfect,  at least for those boys to run around playing football,  grounders, soccer, and basketball for 3 hours. I got a little cold, but the sun was shining, so I couldn't complain! 

We even fed the kids pizza,  Erik only ate the breadsticks. In the past, we just fed them snacks and cake, but as these kids are getting older, I feel like they need more sustenance, especially with an active party like that. And I'm happy to report that there were no injuries!

The Birthday Crew on a break.

Soccer match

Grounders

Bball

On his birthday,  Erik woke early to eat a little something before going back to bed so he could have energy for the turkey trot at 9:30. Austin took us on a 1-mile warm-up, which was probably a little fast for Erik and me as a warm-up.

We arrived at the Summit at 9 to stretch and do last-minute prep for the race, which included keeping warm inside for me! We saw some friends from church and school as well. 

Austin and his friends were determined to get PRs and I think Erik was too, but he only ran 1.5 miles in his meets,  so when he started to not feel well about halfway into the race, I wasn't surprised.  He and I stayed together and still finished with a PR for him in a 5k. Austin got 2nd for his age group and got $10 for Gazelle Sports, though he didn't get a PR.

Birthday boy!

Pre race pic

Austin flying by.

Erik and I.

Erik was tired!

Erik and Kade playing Hook and Ring, a game he got for his birthday from a friend.

Kade drew on a smile, because he wasn't smiling!

Jason got him to smile, though!

Nebraska shirt! Kade helped make the pics more interesting. 

Austin gave Erik this cereal (for real) and an apple as a joke.

The globe reaction!

Legit smile! He's obsessed with geography. In his spare time, he will watch videos about geography. Location of countries, flags, and capitals are what he knows best. He knows more about that than just about anyone I know!

A cool feature of the globe is that it shows constelations in the dark when it's plugged in!

After the race, we got McDonald's for most of the family for Erik's birthday meal. A must when I don't plan on making him a special meal of noodles for all to eat for dinner! Erik ate a lot and was not hungry 4.5 hours later when we sat down for our Thanksgiving feast at the Remington's (where we had Easter dinner), though luckily Kade and Austin ate a fair amount. I think Erik, he still doesn't prefer to have all that different food around him while he eats, but he didn't complain. He sat on the kid's side of the table and did the cross-word puzzles, word searches, and other games that were on the tablecloth. I had remembered, after I had offered to bring the turkey for part of our contribution, that Erik does like ham now, so I brought him his own special ham steak with raw carrots, but he didn't have a single bite of either one. When some of the other kids were done eating, some of whom didn't eat much either, they all ran outside to play football and jump on the trampoline.  

We also brought Jason's delicious sweet potato casserole, roasted corn on the cob and carrots, an apple pie, and Erik's birthday cake. The Remingtons provided stuffing, green bean casserole, a cranberry dip, pumpkin pie, oreo pie, and Martinellis. The Angel family, who came with their son, brought mashed potatoes and gravy, a veggie tray, rolls, a homemade carrot cake, and a pudding pie. The Remington's neighbor brought cupcakes. It seemed there were too many desserts there, almost as many as there were different food varieties for the dinner, but it was fine. I just had a full plate of dessert because there were too many I had to try! Thank goodness the dinner was early enough that I could manage to eat all the desserts I wanted!

Jason precut the turkey this year which made it faster to cook and easier to transport.

Thanksgiving Feast!

Football outside.

The dessert that was the most popular, at least amongst the kids, was Erik's birthday cake. I made his favorite poppyseed bundt cake with almond extract in it. It's no wonder he loves it! I was glad to not have to try that one since we have it fairly often at home. 

With lots of outdoor time for the kids, some indoor games, including the turkey dice game and Who Knew It? and football watching, I think it turned out to be a great birthday/Thanksgiving. 

I am grateful for our friends and my family. 

I am grateful for Erik, who works hard at what he does. At parent/teacher conferences his teachers all made remarks about what a good friend and helper he is. One teacher kept insisting Erik be placed in the TAG program, however, Erik had already declined a few time times. I think he likes being at the top of the regular classes (and his advanced math class) and feeling really good about himself rather than being in a more challenging school. He saw all the work Kade had to do and I don't think he's interested in that. He doesn't like to be overly busy. He's back to taking a class at Ninja's Edge until his indoor soccer session in mid-winter.

Here's to his 13th year!