Tag you're it

I've never had a tag baby and the way his chubby little fingers rub that little tag to a nub just makes me weak in the knees.  He'll lick it, suck it, tickle his cheek with it and frantically search for it while borderline hyperventilating.  Who knew a square inch of immitation silk could bring such comfort? You may be going through a naughty streak, you may pierce my eardrums with your screams and your latest hobby of table dancing may be giving me a heart attack, but boy do you look cute the way you work that tag.

My little man cub

I learned I can not sew a patch on straight for my life. I learned to unstitch and restitch.  I learned to avoid sewing the sleeve together. I learned I am Akelah. I learned that I know nothing about scouts. I learned that scouts is just as much work for the moms as it is for the boys. I learned how handsome Jayden looks in his uniform.  I learned that scouts is going to be a great fit for Jayden and whether I'm ready or not, here it comes.

Eight

Birthday posts always give me anxiety.  I feel so much pressure to list every single one of their amazing qualities and so eloquently state why being their mother is the best job in the world.  The truth is, there's no way I can do that in just one post.  Especially when it comes to Jayden.  The boy who is so genuinely and uniquely one of a kind.  He can drive my crazy one minute with his extreme electronics addiction and then melt my heart the next when he sneaks down the stairs to give me just one more good night kiss.  He is blunt and bold, confident and cocky, hard headed and soft hearted, determined and driven, witty and wild.  We hope you had a wonderful birthday, Jayden, all three days of it.  We sure love you!!  For his party Jason and his friend, Shawn took all the boys to see "Diary of  Wimpy Kid: Dog Days" (which he innocently called "Diarrhea of a Wimpy Kid" for like a week before I finally decided to correct him), then back for pizza, swimming, presents, cupcakes ice-cream and lots of screaming.  Cute boys, fun times and a birthday boy who ran around with a perma-grin all day long.

This was the year of the nerf guns and it was pretty entertaining to watch Jason and the kids run through the house having a nerf war that evening.  Entertaining because Jason and Jayden are two of the most competitive people I know. Revenge was the name of the game.

His cousin Brenton got a remote control truck when we celebrated his birthday here, so that went straight to the top of his wish list.  I'm enjoying the wii and computer hiatus for as long as I can.

Then Sunday we celebrated his actual birthday by dragging him out of bed for 8:00 church, coming home for a strawberry crepe breakfast then mom and dad deciding that it was Sunday nap time while the kids ran wild.  We woke up to the door bell and our sweet Primary President at the door in her cute little pinterest outfit, holding her cute little pinterest number 8 sugar cookie. I tried to flatten down my rat nest bed head, wipe my smeared make up off, kick all the toys back in the toy room and pretend like I really did remember she was coming and that we really don't leave the kids unsupervised for hours while I'm totally unconsious.  She was so cute and talked to Jayden all about his baptism.  He didn't know a single answer to any of her baptism questions, of course, but you could see in his eyes how excited he was about it and that he knew how much Sis. Ray loved him.  I love her for that.  Then we hosted the minority dinner at our house with Papa Murphey's pizza that we picked up the night before (why do I feel the need to clarify that we didn't break the sabbath??) and he was so excited to celebrate with his friends.

Monday was McDonald's for lunch and donuts for his class.  Three days of celebrating made for one tired mama and one happy eight year old boy. It's a good thing I love you so much.

32 & Feelin' the love

The one thing I will remember from this birthday is all the love that came my way. This whole week I have been on a birthday high with overwhelming feelings of gratitude for the wonderful people that fill my life. Watching my kids for 5 hours while I had a leisurely shopping trip, throwing me a fabulous lunch, the gifts, the texts, the phone calls, the emails and especially the thoughtful cards all left me feeling...well, very loved. And this was all before my actual birthday even happened.

the classic balloon backdrop homecoming pose

Somehow we all unknowingly matched the party theme colors, look at us coordinating so well.  And a big PS--summer scarfs are a lie. Those two words do not belong in the same sentence.  No matter how light and airy they are, I learned the hard way that scarfs have no place in the Arizona heat. boo.

And then came my real birthday.  I gave myself the annual pep talk about not being a brat on my birthday, but I knew it would be especially hard because I was spending my birthday hosting Jayden's birthday party.  I tried to not to act like it bothered me too much since I already had such a great week of pampering, but I kind of missed a day of relaxation. Okay, really missed it. Kylie and Jason were so sweet to pitch in and help so much, but the truth is it's hard to feel special when you're baking cupcakes and entertaining a bunch of energetic boys . The plan was to go to dinner as a family that evening after the party.  When the time came I was exhausted and not in the mood for wrestling a baby at a restraunt during bedtime, but still wanted to do something special for my birthday.  Jason and my good friend Melissa know me well and instead of going to the restraunt we had planned, he took a detour to her house to drop the kids off and surprised me with dinner reservations in Scottsdale.  It was exactly the birthday I always dream of.  We went to the Alto Ristorante at the Hyatt Regency and the best part was that it included a gondola ride.  It was oozing in romance, everything I love and everything Jason rolls his eyes at.  I knew he loved me when he was willing to eat froo froo food that we couldn't even pronounce, sit out on the candle lit patio to enjoy the ambiance even though it was like 100 degrees, "relax" with me on the poolside secluded beds, cuddle with me on the gondola while our gondolier sang Italian love songs under the stars and tell me he loved it because he was there with me. He may or may not have even serenaded me on the way home to Origins "Growing Old".  Try not to be too jealous. He did get off the hook from dressing up, everyone else was dressed to the nines and we were a tad bit on the casual side.  He was worried I would be suspicious if he told me to dress up, but next time I want to get gussied up with nothing short of prom attire. Now the birthday bar has been set at a new high and it's going to be hard to top next year. Thank you to everyone who made me feel so special, I couldn't ask for better friends or family!

Making up for lost time

Maddox misses his buddies while they're gone to school and he's willing to do whatever it takes to make up for lost time, even if that means slipping into his sister's spandex dance shorts and doing the tango.  I hear that's what all the hipsters are doing these days, so no shame, carry on.