8 is Great!

How is it possible that this sweet boy is 8?! He recently said to me, "I mean I'm almost a teenager mom."  Thankfully we have a few more years before that but time is definitely flying.  We had a super fun weekend celebrating him!

The day before his birthday Nene came to bring him his present and take him out to breakfast. 

As you can tell in this picture that was hard for Harrison to handle. It's not easy when it's not your turn to be the center of attention! 

The Minecraft obsession has begun. 

It wasn't her birthday but I thought her cuteness deserved a picture :) 

You never know what Nene will bring when she comes. Today it was peaches, oranges, new art supplies including scissors! 

We have a serious Lego problem at this house 

I asked James what he wanted for his birthday breakfast and he said "Mom do you remember those really great homemade cinnamon rolls you made for Christmas? That's what I want."  Let me be honest, my first thought was "please ANYTHING but those." They are time consuming and messy and it was summer and I was home alone with four kids. But...you only turn 8 once so homemade rolls it was. I went ahead and made a whole batch so we could have them once a month until Christmas (only to lose them in the future hurricane after our electricity was out for so long 😭)  

Last picture as a 7 year old

He chose Harry Potter plates this year

I love Harrison so much. This was his card and present he chose for James that he then taped together. He was so proud of it!

Birthday breakfast!

After a birthday breakfast and presents we loaded up and headed to Raleigh to do some gem mining! James has been begging to go to the mountains to pan for gold/gemstones.  A and K are still not great travelers so I couldn't sell Ryan on a mountain trip but then Whitney came to the rescue and found a new place that opened a couple of hours from us. I am also writing this after the fact and laughing inside knowing what's coming less than a month away with our hurricane evacuation...James may end up with his mountain trip after all! 😊

These two. They can drive each other crazy but are the best of buddies. 

Best of all the Fincannon family got to join us! 

The kids loved it. We definitely needed at least one more adult though. 

Look who found a megaladon shark tooth!

His bag of treasures along with his fake smile that I get every time we take a picture lately! 

Afterwards we walked over to a pizza place for lunch 

And then to a bakery for dessert 

After the drive home (which we thought for sure everyone would nap but of course that didn't happen) we left A and K with a sitter and took the boys out for dinner at their favorite place.  The waitress brought this cake out as a surprise so we ended up not even eating the real birthday cake till the next day. 

The next day before church we met Nana and Pop for brunch. The birthday fun just kept going! 

Taking a walk downtown 

Twin love

Finally got his cake that night!

Andrew and Kate LOVED singing happy birthday to him 

Every year I try to write a short note to each kid on their birthday and as I was thinking about what I wanted to say to James, I was reminded of a conversation we had recently.  Another kid had told James he didn't like him and that he was bad at something which had understandably hurt James's feelings.   As I sat there with him that night we began a discussion of truth vs lies  What do we know to be true?  What lies does the world and others try to tell us?  I reminded him that when we hear the lies of the world we can always speak truth to ourselves to help overcome what we are being told.  Here are some of the truths that I touched on with him that night and that I am speaking and praying over him as goes into this ninth year.

Dear James,

I cannot believe that you are 8!  When I look at you I often tear up because I just cannot believe that I get to be your mother; it is one of my greatest joys, honor, and responsibilities.  The day you were born you brought a new kind of joy into my heart and the hearts of so many others.  As you start this ninth year of life, my "big" kid who is rapidly growing and changing and facing all sorts of new challenges I want you to always remember:

You are a child of God.

You are kind.

You are loving.

You have a compassionate heart that thinks of others.

You are patient.

You are strong.

You were chosen to be the oldest child in our family, the greatest biggest brother, the leader who sets an example for your brothers and sister to follow.

God gave you incredible gifts and talents. 

Your mom loves you more than you will ever know.