We really outdid ourselves this year (grrr), promising each kid a friend party on top of their real birthday celebration, which always turns into a big family party anyway when all the grandparents live close. But...we did it for Kosty, had to make it fair with Brayden. On his real birthday, he woke up and opened a couple gifts from us and then went to school as usual. I was able to bring his class goodies and then after school we went straight to the park so he could ride his new toy, the Land Shark. Afterwards, we met up with his 3 grandmas and a grandpa and aunt and uncle at his choice, Texas Roadhouse. Watching Brayden open gifts is always a real treat, he is SO overly but genuinely gracious and thankful...heartwarming is the only word I have for it.
A few days later (and we (me + jer) were SO over the birthday thing at this point!) Brayden had his friend party. He has been talking about getting a cooler of snowballs from Bahama Bucks for so long, and that's what he wanted to do at his party. So I put Jer in charge(figured I paid my dues at the lego party)and he had them playing all sorts of fun games that I had never heard of, they threw snowballs at the park and had pizza and cake. They finished off the party with a round of "how fast can you beat the first level of original mario"..and that was quite the competition for this video game loving group. I didn't want to embarrass anybody, but I would have totally beat them all. I can play that game with my eyes closed ;)
Brayden at nine years old! What a sweet boy he continues to be. Things I want to remember about him: He still wakes up early every day to have some "Brayden" time after he eats and gets ready for school. He enjoys playing a new computer game called Minecraft. He is as responsible as ever, and sometimes Jer and I feel he is the parent, and we are the immature children. He takes the high road whenever Kosty teases him, he never hits back or seeks revenge with words or actions. I DON'T KNOW HOW HE DOES THAT! Even when I tell him to use blocking tecqniques(that will hurt kosty a little...he won't). He is so tall! And the other night I had to lift him from the couch to his bed and I got sad to think it was probably the last time. He is heavy and growing by the minute. He loves his teacher this year and loves writing in his school journal, memorizing math facts, and going to piano on Thursdays. He is so loving and loyal to his momma, and he is always worried about my feelings and looking out for me. He notices my clothes and hair and sweetly gives compliments that I swear no other boys his age would notice. He is very observant and clever. Loves reading and can't put a (good) book down until he's read it all the way through. He loves grilled cheese sandwiches and would eat them for every meal, every day if I allowed it. He is becoming so independent that I feel a little too comfortable leaving him home here and there, and the real kicker is when he asks, what should I do with dinner? He is so used to me having him pull things out of the oven when the timer beeps, turning up heat or down heat on burners, bringing water to a boil, etc etc. Jer was horrified when he overheard me telling him to go ahead and make his own macaroni one day. He didn't realize how independent he has become. He is a good friend. I love watching him around his friends, he is cute and funny and considerate. He has this new crazy thing with bedtime. He stresses out majorly if he notices it is past bedtime. He is a rule follower and is always concerned about what is healthy for his body. He recently went through a little stage where he refused to eat any sugar. And every snack consisted of fruits and vegetables. I gotta say, it drove me nuts. I even threatened to ground him one day when he wanted a chocolate cupcake but refused to eat it because it was not good for him! I'm happy that he wants to eat healthy, but I want him to enjoy life's sweet stuff too. His grandpa gave him this book called "eat this, not that" all about food choices. So, that's where it started. Luckily, its worn off a little and he is finally eating dessert with us again. :)
He is so very special! He has so much self discipline and strives to do whats right. He is very polite and makes people feel good. He brings so much JOY into our home, and he's an example to all of us. We really feel like the world's luckiest parents to have him be ours. We LOVE YOU Bray!
