Happy 7th Birthday Wyatt

It's the day before we are leaving for our 'trip of a lifetime' to Disney World and I have just shy of 1,000 things I am trying to get done. BUT....I wanted to get the blog updated before we left and make sure I didn't skip over my first-born's 7th birthday!!! 7 YEARS......it's hard to believe how fast time sometimes goes. I remember the first 6 months of his life feeling like an eternity..adjusting to life as a full-time mom and thinking I would never sleep or rest or have a 'normal' life again. I was completely overwhelmed by the change and the 'constant-ness' of motherhood. And now, 7 years later I couldn't imagine what I would be doing if I wasn't a mom....but I digress...this isn't about me..it's about Wyatt and his big birthday.

We didn't do a party this year as we have told the kids they can have a 'friend party' every other year. So this is Wyatt's off year for a party, which was just fine with even him! He took treats to school (chocolate chip cookies---he hates cupcakes and really dislikes that everyone brings them for their birthday) and I went up to school and ate lunch with him, bringing him McDonald's (his choice) and getting to see him interact with all his friends. He loved it and I can't wait to have lunch with him again soon. All the kids in his class made a 'card' for him that his teacher bound into a book for him to bring home and he loved getting to read each one that night.

For dinner, he got to choose whether he wanted me to make his favorite meal or go out for dinner....it was a tough choice for him that he thought about for awhile and ended up deciding on going out....to Panda Express (the Chinese place). He has loved Panda ever since we lived in Columbus and there was one near our house, but the only place we knew of one near us was at the Mall of America....that is, until a few weeks ago when one opened in Woodbury. So we went there for dinner and Uncle Ty surprised Wyatt and met us there.

After dinner, we came home for cake and presents. We picked up Wyatt's friend TItus on our way home since Wyatt had asked if he could come over for cake. (Thankfully TItus lives about 10 houses away so it was really convenient!)

Now on to the discussion of the cake.....Wyatt really wanted an ice cream cake this year since he doesn't like cake anyways. And he had seen one that he wanted at Coldstone that was chocolate ice cream with peanut butter and peanut butter cups inside. I tried to convince him to let me make him one (since I have always made my kids' cakes) when Matt reminded me, "Kris, it's his birthday! If he wants a coldstone cake, just get it for him and be glad you don't have to spend hours making one for him that he won't even want to eat!" So we did!

About the cake....it was definitely smaller than we thought it would be but the next size was huge! Wyatt didn't care one bit and insisted that Mater and Lightning AND Finn McMissile all had to be on the cake. SO after picking out a design that included a raceway and the pitstop, you couldn't even see any of it because it was covered by the cars. Oh well.....Wyatt loved it and for once, he actually ate his cake!

Wyatt and Titus

On to the gifts.....My mother-in-law had sent several gifts up a few weeks earlier than had been sitting out and Wyatt was just counting down the days!

My in-laws got him a remote-controlled helicopter

(This has been such a great gift. At first when we read that it needs to charge for an hour and then will fly for 6-7 minutes, we were a little surprised. But it has actually been great because it's just long enough that he enjoys it and is able to get better at it--it's not easy to fly at all--but it's short enough that he never gets sick of it. He usually flies it in the morning before school and then once the battery dies, plugs it back in and flies it again after school. Can't wait to take it outside!!)

Blake is constantly curious about how things work!

There is a funny story behind this picture...my mother-in-law had sent several packages and one of them said, "Happy birthday Wyatt" but after much searching, we didn't see anything written on the other boxes. And they were all wrapped in birthday paper, so we just assumed they were all for Wyatt. So when he opened up a princess VeggieTales DVD and an American Girl baby changing table, we all died laughing and Sadie was immediately excited to see gifts for her! Blake, however, was not happy!!

Titus got Wyatt his favorite candy, a king size Reese's peanut butter cups!

New pants from mom and dad---So exciting!!! I am sure these weren't as exciting as the other gifts, but we started the year with 7 pairs of pants that ALL have holes in the knees, so we needed to get a few more pairs!

Rollerblades from Pops and Nani!!!

And his first skateboard, from Papa and Grammy

Perfect design for a 7-year old boy...LEGOS!!

And his other gift from us.....a new bike!

Thankfully it warmed up at the end of the week and he even able to go outside and take it for a ride. Once he got the hang of how the gears work, he was so excited! Seriously, riding bikes without gears is a lot of work and with the longer runs Matt and I go on when Wyatt rides along, this was a must. Plus, he was way too big for his old bike that we had gotten him when he was 3 years old!!

It was a great birthday and he is very thankful for our unfinished basement, so he can rollerblade and skateboard until the weather gets warmer out.

Happy birthday Wyatt!! It's hard for us to believe that 7 years ago we became parents and we are so blessed to call you our son. You are a great big brother and always include your brother and sister in whatever you are doing. You LOVE school and hate to miss anything with your friends at school. You have become quite the reader and Sadie and Blake love listening to you read them books at night as opposed to just Mom and Dad! You crave structure and routine and thrive when you know 'what to expect'. And you are a thinker...you are constantly observing things and thinking about things--sometimes we hear about them and other times I think you just keep them to yourself. But I love the times, usually when we are tucking you in at night, when you tell us what you have noticed or are wondering about or feel frightened about. It's a precious time and I pray it never ends! You enjoy talking to your friends at school about Jesus and we are so proud to see you reaching out to kids who don't know Jesus. You love skiing, hockey, football and baseball and constantly ask when your next practice/game is. You are also doing so well at AWANA and are well on your way to finishing your second book this year---which means you will have memorized over 60 verses. This year you had to memorize all the books of the Bible, in order, as well as Psalm 23 and you were initially overwhelmed at the prospect of doing so. But we worked on it diligently and you were so proud when you did it!! And we were too! You have overcome a lot of fears and anxieties thus far in your 7 years of life and although we know there will be more, you have gained so much confidence and learned how to navigate through difficult situations. We are so proud of you and pray that you would continue to love the Lord with all your heart and serve Him with your life. Happy Birthday Wy!