Happy Birthday Clayton!

We celebrated Clayton's 8th birthday on Thursday.  It's definitely been an eventful 8 years, and I feel like I never quite know what's around the corner for this boy.  Life isn't always easy for this kid, but he mostly takes it all in stride.  He's the happiest kid I know.  I can honestly say he has a sweet spirit and can find joy in the most unexpected places.  God knew just what he was doing when he molded this personality.  It's just what he needs in life.

We started our day at the donut shop with birthday donuts on the way to Eli's preschool.

We had a party planned for Friday night, but we still needed a special dessert for Clayton's actual birthday, so I whipped up a cookie cake.  It turned out to be a ton of cookie cake, but I think we'll find a way to push through and get it eaten.

Presents are always fun when you're 8 years old.

And while he was opening gifts, his cousin Lizzy called to sing him Happy Birthday.  I think he liked that.

On Friday morning I woke up with a million party to-dos, plus I needed to get Eli back and forth to school, and do school with Clayton.  Clayton has had a birthday cake vision for a few weeks, and while I had fully intended to bake the cake the day before so I would only have to decorate it on Friday, that didn't happen, and I was really feeling the time pinch.  When Clayton woke up, I told him the list of tasks that needed to be accomplished.  He agreed it was a lot.  Then I asked him if it would be alright if we went to Publix and picked out a cake, instead of me making it.  I thought it would be no big deal, but wow.  The silence, the chin wobble, the tears.  It was all too much for me, so I had to make the cake happen.  Luckily he agreed to a few time saving modifications, and although my floors and the schoolroom were not exactly as tidy as I would have liked, the 8 to 12 year old party guests couldn't have cared less, and we had Clayton's only slightly altered dream cake for dessert.

After pizza and cake, Ryan and I and one of our neighbors took 7 boys, including our 3, to the movies to see Rio 2.  Although not quite as cute as the first Rio, the boys all loved it, and it was so much fun to see Clayton enjoying the movie with all his friends.  We live on the best street, and my boys are blessed to have such great neighbor kids as friends.

Happy birthday Clayton!  It's been tough at times, but you always pull through it.

Spring Break

Eli is on Spring break this week, and the weather in Georgia has been gorgeous.  We've been soaking it up because all too soon I know it will be super hot and muggy.  Today we had a picnic lunch at one of the church playgrounds in town.  It's a great place to eat, play, and explore, and I'm so thrilled they encourage the public to use their facility.  There are not very many playgrounds around here, so this a gem.

Eli

Aaron

Clayton

Serious sliding

Love this little guy.

The boys love climbing to the top of this hill and running down.

Here they come.

Eli is still in his walking boot, but it doesn't slow him down.  If only the manufacturer of this boot could see the abuse this boot has endured.

They also have this cool climbing wall.  Eli has gotten to the top before, but he was a little less confident today.  I was laughing so much when I took this picture.  You know the scene in Frozen when Anna is determined to climb the mountain, and she puts in all that big talk and effort and only ends up about three feet off the ground?  Well that would be Aaron!  You would have thought he was climbing Everest with all the talk about what a great climber he is, and this was as far up as he got!  Maybe next time buddy!

After we'd played for a while we decided to take a little stroll on some trails in the woods behind the playground.  Almost immediately we ran into this bad boy.  I was so proud of myself for just continuing on like it was no big deal, when I really wanted to abandon my children and run screaming out of the woods.  I had planned to take lots of cute pictures of the boys on the trail and exploring the woods, but instead I was on serious snake patrol the rest of the hike.