A Weekend of E

A blurry group shot, but it's tough to get 11 boys to stand still

       Remember when Lanie turned 4 - her birthday and birthday party fell on the same day and with one fell swoop we celebrated my baby turning one year older.  No extra gift days, no special dinners later in the week.  One day, celebration complete.

      With a birthday that falls on Monday, you have a very different experience.  Elijah turns 9 tomorrow - actually in a few hours - at 1:37 am this morning, and his party began three days ago and is still going strong.  Talk about the luckiest kid in the world.  And the tiredest parents in the world.  But you only turn 9 once, right?   I'm not sure which event he's liked best but I wanted to chronicle it all. 

Elijah playing the Wheel of Fortune (big thanks to dad for making this circle of fun)

    
      After our school Fall Festival, which I love for having a chance to catch up with friends, but is fast becoming one of those events that fall into the category of "sounds fun, but would like to be at home in my pjs" along with parades and rodeo carnivals, Elijah had two boys spend the night.  They had a 9 o'clock pizza, a 9:30 trip to the park to throw the football, and a 10 o'clock TV show on the back porch.  Not surprisingly, they were exhausted and asleep by 11pm.  Kenny joined them at midnight and all was well until the sprinklers went off at 3am freaking out our cat that had somehow snuck into the tent with them.  Even then, the boys slept on.

   
     Somehow children sleep harder than adults. I don't know when that changes. Maybe having an infant does it to you. Being responsible for a new little life can keep a person on their toes, more alert, and ready to drag themselves up at the sound of a hungry wail.   I don't think nine years changes much of this.  Even though we sleep most nights now and I've almost forgotten the sound of a cry from a monitor, being responsible for that cough you hear or that scream from a bad dream will keep us forever light sleepers.

The cookie cake is a game controller - get it?  Wreck it Ralph is a video game - many did not see the connection.

    On Saturday, we met several of Elijah's friends from church & school for a Cinemark birthday party. How simple this one was compared to years past when Kenny and I spent hours creating clever terms for cheetos that represented a character from CARS, or making up baseball stations or a Nebraska football cake.  Elijah is so easy.  He wanted to see Wreck-It-Ralph with his friends and eat a store-bought cookie cake.  Done. And Done.  Afterward, we headed to our second Fall Festival where the kids came home with another bag of candy, some colored hair, and ready to call it a day.

     Today, the weekend that never ends continued for Elijah and he got to watch the Dynamo win a conference final.  To put a cherry on top, when he got home he opened some of his presents, got a Face Time call with his grammie and grandpa, and even got to watch the first quarter of the Texans.   He's a pretty lucky kid.  A truly blessed kid.  And I think a grateful kid.

Oh, and an "afro circus, afro circus, polka dot, polka dot, polka dot afro" silly kid. Don't know the reference?  You Tube it.  It's pretty catchy.