Double Digits

Just over a decade ago, we were blessed with yet another boy in our family. At that point, we thought all we would ever have is boys. We were okay with that because AJ was such a great baby. He had lots of baby fat. He was nicknamed, "Butterball".

AJ has always liked adventure. He loves swords, bows, and arrows (that is what the hanger is sticking out of his shirt.) When he was little, he always wore shorts, cowboy boots, cowboy hat, and carried his little stuffed dog named Black by the tail. I made him leave his stick horse, Blaze, home most days. He loves to learn and does well in school. He likes to stay up late reading. This is a picture of his kindergarten graduation. The picture is cute but, I told him we won't celebrate graduation with him until it's college graduation. (No pressure there.)Well, my little boy turned ten a while back. Yep, double digits. His age will be double digits for the rest of his life until he turns 100. As you know, birthdays around here are not just days, they are events. We took treats into his class where he sat in the special birthday chair

We had a Tres Leches cake (he remains true to his Texas roots) with the family. We didn't put candles on the cake so he blew out imaginary candles. I wonder if his wish still came true?

He had a water party with his friends. We played duck-duck-goose with water balloons which made it dry-dry-wet.

We played a modified badminton with water balloons.

We played a game where each player had crepe paper taped to their back and everybody chased each other with water guns trying to wet the crepe paper.

Every single activity, including the cake eating turned into a water fight.

Yes, those are girls he invited to his party. ( He still has many friends that are girls. I love it when kids are gender neutral with their friends).

We even had a pinata (did I mention he is a Texan?)

A few days before school was out he ran in the Wellsville Mile. This is a local race for all kids in the 4th & 5th grades. He was proud to be one of the fastest kids in his grade. He ran a great race even if he was disappointed with his final time.

The best part about AJ is that he is always happy. His brothers and sisters LOVE to play with him. They love him and so do I.