If she had the proper words to say,

A.J.'s 11th birthday was in August, and this one was a quieter deal. We had huge parties for both boys the previous summer, and they only get to have parties every other year. Of course, he's eleven-and-a-half now, but here I am, just getting around to posting!

** Yes, I realize I never wrote up the story of his 10th birthday bash. However, I did load the pictures way back when, and you can figure out most of the day/night from the descriptions on them HERE. :-)



He invited our neighbors - Drew & Natalie - to celebrate the day with us. They came over in the afternoon, and then we all traipsed off to the movie theatre to see Shorts. The kids all enjoyed the film and had a good time. Afterwards, they played for a bit before Drew and Natalie had to head home for dinner. (We had invited them along, but they had other plans going on that night.)

Then we drove out to West Omaha to A.J.'s choice of restaurant - Jimmy Buffett's chain, Cheeseburger in Paradise. We'd eaten there a handful of times, but it had been a long, long while since. The waitstaff surprised him with a song and an ice cream sundae at the end of our meal.

At home, he opened his gifts late in the evening. We'd given him a musical birthday card that played Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" (he loves that song!), and his favorite gift was a $25 gift card to Borders. It was a special gift card decorated for Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and he loved that series. :-)

( More pictures. )

Today is A.J.'s birthday!

I'm afraid his day won't be quite as eventful as Jack's day, though. There's no free concert to attend, there's school all day long, etc. But there is the last lesson of this fourth session of swim lessons tonight, and I'm 99% sure that A.J. is going to graduate tonight to the next level - he will be so excited to move on to Level Four!

He picked out a devil's food cake and dark chocolate fudge icing. Can we say "rich"? Eeep. I bought extra milk when grocery shopping, as we're gonna need it just to get that sucker down. He also wants a regular full-size cake, versus the cupcakes that Jack decided upon. I'm baking it this morning, and it will be ready for him after school. We'll do his gifts then, too.

But now I have a nine-year-old!

I tried baking more Apple Spice Drops today. I actually checked the current weather forecast before doing so, and I decided to go ahead with it, even with the current humidity at 56%. The cookies still weren't perfect, but they were SO much better than the last time. Enough that I went ahead and made the apple frosting, even.

I've done three loads of laundry today and straightened up a bit. A.J. and Jack have been playing with A.J.'s new birthday toys today. The Lite Brite® seems to be a big hit (I used to love those things when I was younger!). Philip took A.J. to the BX and to Target to use his gift cards, and he picked out what he wanted. It was nice to have a quiet house while I was baking and folding, too.

A.J.'s party yesterday was wonderful. We had the entire pool for just his party - that was unexpected, but nice. It was only just above 70°, so I'd not taken my suit to swim, but Philip got in with the boys. Heather swam as well, and she and Philip both said that the water was great - who knew it would be okay with such a low temperature? The kids had fun, and the cake was devoured - every last piece. A.J. received a bunch of neat toys and gift cards, and he was a very happy guy. Even though the clouds had looked ominous all day, the party turned out just right.

Heather is coming over to scrapbook tonight, and tomorrow begins the second week of school for A.J. He finished his homework on Friday afternoon, but I'm going to have him write out a few thank-you notes before bed tonight.

Today was A.J.'s birthday! My first 'baby' turned 7 years old today - my, how time has really flown by!

I was so nervous when A.J. was born. I lived with Philip's family in Bridgeport, West Virginia, and we had to wait until the baby (we didn't know yet what the 'it' was) was born to get married so that I could be covered under my parents' insurance. My family had already moved a state away, and it's a nervous thing having your first baby without your mama around. Philip's mom was there, though, and she even came into the delivery room with us.

Before I knew it, it was all over and the doctor had plopped a perfect little person onto my chest. He was quiet the moment they gave him to me, and he was so beautiful. Philip had the biggest 'crocodile' tears streaming down his face as we got our first looks at A.J.

He was so independent, right from the very beginning, even. He didn't want to be held or coddled - he wanted to do it by himself. At 4.5 months old, he'd had enough of being held and touched while feeding, thank you, and he abruptly ended our nursing relationship right then and there. I was so sad, but I moved aside to let him accomplish things on his own. He climbed out of his swing by 5 months old, crawled up stairs by 6.5 months old and walked on his own at just 7.5 months of age. At his 9-month doctor's appointment, I had him RUN over to the doctor... yeah, he was definitely ahead of the game!

He sang his first complete song (his ABC's) at 15 months old, and he wanted NO help with his puzzles. He and the special kitty he picked out and named (Kiki) became the best of friends in his second year, and they were inseparable.

When Jack came along, A.J. was the most diligent big brother. He wanted to help in every way. He helped a little *too* much, in fact - teaching Jack to speak just as well as he himself did. Now it's NEVER quiet in this house!

He headed off to school in his fourth year, and he never looked back. He's got a sensitive spot inside, though, and when his first "girlfriend" broke up with him, it took him 3 weeks to recover. :-( Pretty soon, though, there was another girl stepping in to take her place.

In his fifth year, he grew by leaps and bounds. He still loved playing with Jack better than almost anything else, and the "jokes" he liked to tell started to - finally! - get a little bit funny! The teeth started falling out, and we knew every last bit of "baby" was gone then.

This last year, A.J. changed so much. He became a real "person" now - a person with identifiable needs and desires. He relished his "alone" time now, even though his best bud is still his little brother at times. He reads so well and understands so much now - we're able to have real conversations all the time now. He misses his dad so much, but he's trying so hard to be the "man of the house" - a little too hard, sometimes.

There's so much more in store for my A.J. now, so much that he has the skills and abilities to accomplish this year. He amazes me all the time - the things that he understands and then the things that he doesn't. He's still a kid, but he's growing up so fast.

Happy birthday, A.J.!