Sometimes I'm not sure how we got here, but we now officially have a seven year old! We celebrated Tommy on his birthday with his family presents, highlights below include a Lego set and a talking Ninja Turtle card (and, not pictured because he has to pick it out still, a hand-brake bike). Tommy has grown a great deal this year, both in height and personally. I appreciate his helpfulness with his brothers and around the house. Recently I contracted some kind of flu at the exact same time that Jeff had beamtime and was completely unable to help, and Tommy took care of his brothers almost all day. They watched a lot of TV, wore strange outfits, and might have only eaten yogurt and pretzels...but they all survived thanks to his intervention. He was so sweet bringing me cups of water and, when I could finally keep something down, pretzels. The experience, while terrible for us all, certainly demonstrated to me how much he has grown in his ability to handle responsibility.
He continues to love sports, especially football, but he has been playing soccer and baseball. He also participates in Cub Scouts and, of course, in church activities. He is showing much more maturity in these areas as well, and has started asking very good questions about God...and also some strange ones. His school teacher tells me he is a very hard worker, a great reader, and a leader in the classroom. At a conference she told me that she randomly chose him to demonstrate how to have a conversation about a book (an exercise she does every year), and the dialogue she had with him was the best she has had with a student. The book was The Cat in the Hat, and I can't even remember the last time we read it, so I was certainly impressed that he did such a good job. All that said, his favorite part of school is recess. He is constantly bursting with energy, so classrooms are not his natural habitat. Tommy mainly goes to school to socialize, but we are happy that he is learning as well.
Speaking of socializing, Tommy had a friend birthday party too. He loves his birthday, and starts discussing his party and invite lists months in advance (which is nice because it usually starts with "I want to invite the entire school!" and it takes time to narrow it down). I love that he wants to include everyone he knows, even though it is wildly impractical. This year we really hit the jack-pot when Tommy entered a drawing for a free birthday party and won! Thus he got to have his first (and ONLY) outside-of-our-house party. It was at a Karate studio, which was a big hit with the seven-year-old boy crowd. He had a great time, and so did Kenny, as you will observe in the videos. Nic was there too, but wild crowds are just not his style.
Happy Birthday Tommy! We are so proud of you and are blessed to be your parents!
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