Happy Birthday, Spencer

Sadly, I missed the ACTUAL day of Spencer's birthday to post this (Monday, Sept 20).  But I suppose posting on the exact day pales in comparison to the fun things we actually DID on his birthday.  Nothing extravagant, but exactly what HE wanted to do (minus waiting for Jordan's football practice to get over before going to dinner).

When he got home from school he was ready to go.  I had made brownies for his class and he came home all smiles. I had his favorite donuts too.  We took Jordan to football practice and off we went to Driftstone Pueblo in St. Elmo.  It is an Indian type store with lots of expensive things.  Spencer wanted Indian moccasins.  They weren't exactly what he wanted and pretty expensive, more than his $30 could buy at least.  So, after a LOT of walking around looking at every last little thing in a short time (they were closing just 30 minutes after we got there), he chose a bow and arrow and a leather hat.  He is still pretty pleased with his purchases - though he still has his heart set on some moccasins. 

He usually has been making his own bows and arrows, but this one shoots pretty far.  We got home and he was soooo excited with how far it went.

He is growing up so fast and so much lately.  Even his looks are changing to that of a young man not a little boy.  He brought his school pics home the other day (all of which will be posted later) and I was amazed...this boy is not a little boy any more.

We got home, shot arrows a bit (he even hit me from clear across the yard - thank goodness for rubber tipped arrows), then went to get Jordan so we could ALL go out to dinner for his birthday.  He made me laugh.  When there he was pretty adamant about NOT choosing from the children's menu saying, "I'm an adult now and want to eat off the adult menu!"  I laughed....an adult, huh!  Well, I would agree that he is old enough and eats enough to order off the regular menu.

Thanks for a fun day, Spencer!

And now, keeping with the tradition of naming things I love about my children (the amount of how old they are) goes on. 

What I love about Spencer (only 10 things):

1. His smile
2. His ultimate exuberance and excitement for life - for anything he is doing at the time for that matter
3. How generous he is with everything
4. How good he is with children. He is the one to help the children not cry when I babysit...he LOVES playing with them and making them laugh (to which they always do whenever he comes around)
5. His ability to set goals for himself and accomplish them
6. His sensitive heart and Spirit
7. His monkey hugs (though he is getting big and jumping into my arms isn't as easy for me as it used to be when he was a little guy)
8. His drive to succeed and do his best at everything
9. His deep thinking about situations.  I know there is an exact word for this, but really it is just that he thinks a lot about a lot of things and tries to figure things out and is good at applying situations and such to HIS life....ETC.  If you know that word...kindly tell me.  I would say thoughtful, but I know that gives a different connotation.
10. AND, last but certainly NOT LEAST...maybe even MOST importantly, that he is alive.  10 years ago was a rough go for BOTH of us.....thankfully we are here together to experience the good and bad of life with each other.  I couldn't live without him!

Happy Birthday, Spencer!  I love you!!!!!