We Have a NINE Year Old

Nine years ago today I became a mother.  And because it was painful, traumatic, and difficult {still kind of is --  hahahaha.} I told Ethan he OWED me tonight.  I made him record everything he would like the world to know about him right now as a newly turned 9 year old.  And here it is:

My favorite color is Orange. I like playing on the Wii. My favirite food is Mac and chese.  I want a Kindle fire. I have 3 sisters and 1 brother. I am the oldest kid in my family.  my favirite treat is reces pieces cups.  I like to go swimming in the summer.  I like to ride my bike in the spring.  I like to go sledding in the winter.  And I like to Play inside in the fall.  I I like playing games on the computer.  my favirite series of movies is harry potter.  My favirite memory is mardi gras and aspen grove.

Apparently he's very seasonally oriented.  Hahahaha. And since it IS summer we celebrated his big day by going to the pool even though today is supposed to be Library day.  AND I didn't even make him do any chores {even though it caused an all-day long argument amongst the children over whether or not anyone else was able to get out of chores on their birthday -- the girls insisted they didn't and Ethan insisted they did}.  Since this is not a birthday party year -- key ages in our family for "friend parties" are 5, 8, 12, 16, and 18 -- we kept things fairly low key for his celebration today.  In addition to the swimming and no chores, we had a real meal for dinner and I picked up some cupcakes from Jilly's.  Overall I believe it was a success!  

I convinced Ethan that what he really wanted for dinner on his birthday was hamburgers, corn on the cob {which he loves}, and watermelon.  Thankfully he agreed to forego the Domino's pizza he initially wanted and switched gears without too much of a fight.  Mostly I think because of the promise of corn on the cob.  In case you didn't know, shucking the corn is a HIGHLY desired task in our house.  When I was on the phone with Scott as we were leaving the pool and going to get the cupcakes, I asked him if he would get dinner started if he beat us home and Ethan started screaming in the back ground,  "DON'T DO THE CORN!!!!"  Duly noted.  Once we were home Ethan went right to it and wouldn't let anyone else help him.  This caused a bit of a ruckus with Grace and Sophie.  But mostly with Grace.  Because as she pointed out there isn't ANY corn on the cob when it's time for her birthday and it isn't fair.  The injustices they find to complain about never cease to amaze me.  Hahaha.

Time for Dinner!

We finally managed to eat and then we finally got through a hastily thrown together Family Home Evening -- Grace basically called dibs on doing the lesson so we could get it over with quickly, because "we can just do it on obeying your parents" she declared -- and then we finally managed to divvy up the cupcakes for everyone to get a little sampling.  {Except for Sophie of course who just had fruit snacks which caused its own little riot when Jane and Grace both decided they wanted that instead.}  Ethan got his own WHOLE cupcake to himself  --  a "Reese's Chunkage" -- which he maybe ate 2 bites of.  (It was really rich).  And after a few more fights and meltdowns we finally herded everyone up to bed and ended this blessed day.  I think the swimming wore everyone out enough that no one has come down the stairs yet!   If it didn't wear ME out so much, I think we'd go to the pool every day.  Hahahaha.

Happy Birthday to Ethan!!!  I sure am grateful he's a part of our family!