Happy 8th birthday, Aidan!

Today my first born is eight years old! What an amazing boy he is!He's hard-working, clever, caring, energetic, funny, sensitive, and loving. While we may have days where Doug and I fondly look back to when his favorite activity was pushing his toy jeep around the block as fast as his chubby little 2 year old legs could move him, we also have our days where we appreciate how much he is learning and and how independent he has grown. He can frustrate us so quickly with his need to test boundaries and question authority, yet he can make us so proud when he steps in to lead his siblings in play or working on tasks.

The past eight years have flown by so fast and it is almost impossible to imagine that in eight more years he will be on the cusp of adulthood. One thing that he is excited about this birthday is that he is legally aged out of car seats. He started calculating how many years until he can ride in the front seat and how many years until he can drive. Oh my! Thoughts like that make me want to curl him up close and hang tight to age 8!

This year we celebrated his birthday with family from both sides, a rarity with all of the traveling Doug's parents do and all of the extra-curricular activities his cousins do. He chose a few friends from school to take to an indoor inflatables place, called Jumping J's. They had a blast jumping and sliding, as well as playing arcade games and "cosmic" mini-golf. What a fun group of friends! Sean and Ella had just as much fun as the big kids, Ella jumpied herself to the point of exhaustion.











Today, Ella and I are baking chocolate chip cookies and taking them to share with his class this afternoon. His Grandpa Larry called this morning to ask if he could give Aidan a ride to school on his motorcycle. What a fun start to his 8th year!