It's GREAT to be EIGHT!

 My baby boy turned 8 years old.

He's so stinkin' cute and smart and awesome.

 

We've been talking a lot about his upcoming baptism and he is so excited about it.

I told him that he didn't have to get baptized if he didn't feel ready to and he said he was and he wanted to do it because he wanted to choose the right.  At night we've been reading the Book of Mormon together.  He's trying to finish it before he's baptized.  He has so many smart questions while we read it.  He also got a book by George Durrant called Baptism that we've been reading on the way to school.  It's the cutest book that has helped Kaden realized that every choice we make is so important. 

And he's realized that he is ready to get baptized.

 

A week before his birthday when I asked him what he wanted he said that all he wanted was a suit to wear at his baptism.

So, here he is in the dressing room trying on his awesome JC Penny suit.

As soon as he put this snappy little suit on I had to take a picture.  He was so darn handsome in it and it added 10 years to his newly 8 year old cute face. 

He looked like my missionary boy and it brought a tear to my eye.

My little boy, my youngest child all of a sudden got so old.

Since his last friend birthday party was 4 years ago I told Kaden he could have a friend party.

On Saturday, the 11th he had 13 loud and crazy boys come over to play.

The party went from 8:30-10:30 a.m.

I had several parents ask me what we do at parties that early on a Saturday morning, and I said, "the same thing we do at parties any time of day."  One dad said, "that is freakin' awesome!"  It made me laugh.

 

It was a sports themed party with everyone wearing their favorite sports jersey.

Then we grilled some hot dogs and ate them at 9:00 in the morning.  (freakin' awesome right?)

 

You can't tell in this picture but the lights are turned off and we are playing glow-in-the-dark baseball.  The ball is a glow ball and the boys have glowsticks around their wrists.

Freakin' awesome, right?

We played a few other games, like the sucking M&M's with a straw game and kicking a baby soccer ball around cones relay.  But mostly these boys just wanted to wrestle and be wild. 
It actually was more rowdy than Emmy's birthday with 16 10 year old girls. 
I have to say I was totally exhausted after this party and was reminded why I rarely do birthday parties.  I swore that I would remember my exhaustion and never do a birthday party again for as long as I live.

The opening of presents was crazy.

 

Kaden's actual birthday fell on a Sunday when Jeff had the kids.  He very kindly invited me over to join in the party.

We had a lovely dinner but were all very silly.

 

Kaden got his very own scriptures along with his snazzy new suit. 

 Plus another cake...

This is my favorite boy ever!

And you're all invited to attend his baptism this coming Saturday!  Please come and celebrate the awesomeness of this boy!

Kaden is such a great balance of everything.

He has a very kind heart in wanting to help people, speak kind words and serve others.  When I remind him that he is the man of the house he jumps right in and does all sorts of jobs.  He changed some light bulbs in the bathroom for me; he takes out the garbage and brings in the empty cans on Fridays.  When I went out with him to buy his suit I told him that we were on a Mommy/Son date.  He held the door open for me, he carried the bags, he held my hand.  He was so sweet and thoughtful.  We shared some French fries and he got us our napkins and water.  I loved seeing how aware he was in taking care of my needs.  We had a little chat about how girls love watching how boys treat their moms and they look for a really kind boy to marry.  He was very interested in that conversation.

One of my favorite things to do with Kaden is to snuggle in bed with him and read together. 

 

Kaden loves to be athletic and tough and rough.  But, he also loves to be soft and gentle.  He loves to play with my hair when he talks to me and get real close looking at my face.  He loves to play "spa day" with his sisters but he also loves to tease the heck out of him like brothers typically do.  

He already went to his first Cub Scout Pack Meeting.  Kaden had some questions about the uniform and he called it "the outfit."  The den mother laughed so hard and said, "it's obvious this is a boy with sisters to call something an outfit."  We will educate him.  

 He loves the color red.  He loves hot dogs and could eat them any time of day.  He loves BYU.  He loves Doritos. He is highly motivated in school to get his homework done and to do a good job on it.  I rarely have to tell him to do anything in school because he's already on top of things and got it done.  He is super smart and can rattle off details and facts about anything random you can think of.

Everyone loves Kaden.  I didn't realize that he's such a goof ball until he got the award of "Class Clown" last year.  As I've paid attention to it I can see that he likes to be silly in class and make people laugh.  That goes for church too.  He likes to holler out jokes or answers that will make people laugh.  We better get that under control a little.

 

I love Kaden so much. 

As I sat with him in the Bishops office  while he was having his baptismal interview I was so proud of his desires to do what is right. 
I was so proud of the things he knows and feels already. 
He makes me proud.

I LOVE Kaden SO much!
Happy Birthday my awesome boy!