Nine!

Friday, May 10 we celebrated Luke's 9th birthday. 

We took the day off from school and enjoyed a day with a few friends and family. 

The week prior to Luke's birthday, Ethan was insistent that he wanted to buy a gift for Luke. He counted his money in his wallet ($7.65) and repeatedly asked to go shopping. Although, we've never done this before, we made it happen. I suggested several low price items that Ethan could buy so he wouldn't spend all his money. However, he was not swayed by my suggestions. He insisted on buying a lego set that cost $7.34 with tax. It was really such a sweet moment (that I NEEDED to see!) -- Ethan so delighted with giving his gift and Luke realizing what a sacrifice Ethan had made by spending all his money on him. I couldn't have planned it better. 

The week before, Darin and I had fun making a "Luke 9" sign out of legos. 

What a great surprise for our lego lover Luke!

Luke requested ice cream cake, so I kept it simple with a homemade strawberry/vanilla ice cream cake. No crafty creations for me this year. It was a bit of a relief!

Of course, wearing the traditional "9" shirt! I love this tradition!!!

 After lunch and cake, we relocated to mini golf with a few special friends. Our plan was to try out a new mini golf course. We had scoped it out, looked at pictures online and gotten really excited to try it. Unfortunately, this Mommy never considered calling since we had such a small group. Imagine the disappointment when we pulled up to find it was CLOSED for a company picnic!!! We had one sad 9 year old on our hands. I'm so thankful he bounced back and made the best of a change in location to a less exciting course. (Too bad his brother didn't change gears nearly as maturely! bummer!)

9 year old at the NINTH hole!

Golfing buddies and friends since 2004!

We finished up the day with gymnastics class and dinner out with all the grandparents. (So fun to have Grammy, Poppy, Grandma and Grandpa join us for our traditional birthday dinner.)

Phew! What a marathon day. Boy, do I love this 9 year old and the fine young man he is becoming.

All Star Gymnastics

Every Thursday from 3:15-4:15 I grin until my cheeks hurt. Seriously! And while I'm grinning, I'm watching a 6 year old boy who is also grinning from ear to ear. Oh how it delights my heart to see Ethan so happy. He is signed up for All Star Gymnastics and having a BALL! This is his strength. He is in a class with 6 other boys and Coach Tyler is awesome. He runs a tight ship with the perfect amount of discipline and encouragement. The class is fast moving and seems almost like a bootcamp. If you know my 6 year old, this is exactly what he needs. ;) 

I haven't been able to get too many good pictures, but they are doing some hard stuff. I'm so impressed with the circuits they have these young 5-6 year old boys doing. 

 assistant coach Dale spotting on the rings

And the two other boys sit patiently in the lobby for an hour waiting until class is over. 

It's been good for them to be on the sidelines a bit. 

If at first you don't succeed...

...try, try again!!! The boys have been obsessed with learning how to do a handstand. And by golly, the older two have gotten the hang of it. They can even hold the handstand for a bit. Aaron's working on it and making progress. Of course, I had to get in on the action too and have been practicing my hand stands from way back when... but I'm not sharing those pictures. ha!

Wish they were just as determined with their studies. ;)