the one about Quayd's 7th Birthday

Seriously... where does the time go? My tiny baby boy turned 7 yesterday. Yes. I said SEVEN!!! It is so crazy how quickly he is growing up. I know that everyone says that, but it is true. He started 2nd grade last week. So weird.
(This was on the first day of school. Brennen, Amelia and Quayd were just heading for the bus and they so DIDN'T want to stop for pictures!) Anyway, we have seriously partied all weekend! It started Friday afternoon. Quayd's friend party was from 5-7 at our house. He invited about 22 kids, and I think 19 showed up! His invitations said: Come "CHILL" with me at my Birthday Party! I hope you can "POP" on over! They were attached to a popsicle and we delivered them in the ice cream truck. We rented a big slide and a bounce house and the kids just played and played the whole time!



They loved it! We also had hotdogs, chips, pink lemonade, cupcakes and popsicles. I was going to have them play games if they got bored with the slide, but they never really did. It was a pretty big party! But it was so easy for me! I didn't have to do anything, really. Just the food part. They totally entertained themselves. It was great!





On Sunday, we had Quayd's family party. Danette let us use the pool area and it was so nice! Quayd wanted Tacos for dinner, so I assigned things out and it worked perfectly! We had my Grandparents, my mom, my brother and his family, Morgan, Gleneita and all of Brett's siblings and their families. Talia's new boyfriend, Tyson, has a little boy, Wyatt, and he was so cute! We had so much fun with him! His dad doesn't like him to get sticky or dirty, so when we gave Wyatt his own cupcake, I thought Tyson was going to have a stroke!
It was so cute and funny! We had a blast swimming. The weather was perfect and the company was even better.



He got some very cool gifts, including a $100 dollar bill and a razor scooter that makes sparks. Danette kept asking him what he wanted and he would say, "I don't know." So she kept telling him that if he didn't tell her, she was going to give him pink panties. Well, guess what!?!? He got pink panties!


Brett and I gave him this cool bike that he wanted. It is a big tricycle with a basket thing in the back so he can haul stuff. He is such a little boy! We also gave him a cell phone, jerky and a new backpack.

Brett, Brennen and Quayd got the rabbits out of the pen yesterday and took them for a ride in the new bike!

I always like to take a little bit of time on his Birthday to reflect on the past and remind myself how blessed I am to have him. It has been a tradition that on his Birthday, Brett or myself (sometimes both of us) write him a letter and put it away so he can read it when he gets older. Sadly, the last two years, Quayd's birthday has been overshadowed by funerals (Brett's dad, Mike, in 2007 and my Great-Grandma in 2008) and I think we have overlooked the letter writing. I wanted to be sure he got his letter this year, so here it is.

8/30/09
Dear Quayd,
Today, you turned seven years old. Why do you have to get so big!?!? You are such a handsome little boy and you have gotten so big and tall. You are in second grade now and I just can't believe it! It seems like just yesterday that you were still in my belly and Daddy and I were so excited to FINALLY be parents. It's funny to think back at that time in my life. I was so curious about you. I wanted to meet you so badly and I couldn't wait to see what your little personality would be like and what you would look like. Now I can't imagine what it was like not having you in my life. I feel like I have known you forever! You complete our little family. Daddy and I were always happy before you came to us, but now I realize that we weren't really that happy afterall. We were definatley missing something... and it was you! Thank you for being you and picking us to be your parents. I know we make mistakes and we are pretty stupid sometimes, but I guarantee that no little boy will ever be loved as much as you. EVER! We would do anything for you. You are our whole lives! You are such a perfect mix of Daddy and I. You have a little bit of a temper, like daddy, and you are very tender and emotional like me. You are built like your daddy with your broad shoulders, cute bum and skinny legs. But you have a round face and big brown eyes like me. You like to stay up late and sleep in, just like me, however, when you decide you want to go to bed, you don't want to be disturbed, like dad. Both Daddy and I love to swim, camp, laugh and have fun. Just like you.
As a seven-year-old, you love to ride bikes and scooters. You wear flip flops EVERYWHERE. You would rather wear pajamas or "comfy clothes" than anything else. You are a FISH in the water and you have become a GREAT swimmer. You like to eat pizza, tacos, cheesecake, ice cream, Cool Ranch Doritos, jerky, any kind of candy, peanuts and tomatoes. Your best friends are Brayden and Brennen, Amelia, Shade, and Gavin. You love soccer and you have gotten be a great player. You also enjoyed T-Ball and you will be starting flag football this fall. You have lost 5 teeth so far. Four in the front and one molar that had to be pulled. By the way, you HATE the dentist.
I hope you always feel like you can come to me with anything. I will love you, no matter what. You are such a special little boy. You are kind and sweet and you are always concerned about everybody elses feelings. I love it that you still like to hug, kiss and snuggle with your old mommy. I love our Sunday afternoon "snuggle fest." That is probably mine and dads favorite time of the week! Thank you for being you. I am so proud of you. Thank you for being my baby and for putting up with me. I know I am kind of a weird mom, but I swear I love you more than any mom has ever loved their child. There has never been a more special boy than you and I am so glad you are mine! Happy 7th Birthday, my little sugar bear!
Love, Mom

the one about Quayd's 6th Birthday

I feel like the most terrible mother in the world because I haven't blogged about Quayd's Birthday yet. It was a great day, but I have just been super busy lately. Oh, who am I kidding. It was a terrible day, but we made the best of it. Quayd's Birthday happened to be the same day as my Great-Grandma's funeral. Luckily, I had planned his Birthday party for the day before. But unluckily, the party was a total fiasco! Allow me to explain...

So, I had made arrangements for Quayd's party to be a swimming party at the Rec. Center. He loves swimming there and that is what he wanted to do. I booked and paid for the thing clear back in June. Well about two weeks before the party, I was making the invitations (which turned out ADORABLE, by the way) and decided I better double check on the time and make sure everything was still good to go.


They assured me that everything was fine. I finished up the invites and we delivered them. Quayd and I worked so hard creating, finding addresses, delivering and spreading the word to all of his friends. So, as I mentioned before, my Great Grandma passed away the day before the party, and her funeral was the day after the party and on his actual Birthday. Not only that, but the day of the party was the one year anniversary of the passing of Brett's dad. I was working EXTRA hard to make his party be NORMAL and to focus only on Quayd! It wasn't hard, because he is such a great kid and he was SO UNDERSTANDING, considering the circumstances. Anyway, we got to the Rec. Center about 25 minutes early. Brayden, Brennen, Amelia, and Kasen rode with us. They were so excited! They helped me get everything inside and we got everything loaded in the party room. Kids were starting to arrive and I noticed that nobody was in the pool. I asked our "party consultant" if we got the pool to ourselves or what. She was like, "I'm not sure. I will go check." Well, I walked back outside, leaving the kids in the room, and the lady stopped me at the front desk. She said, "Ummmm.... You do know that the pool is closed, right?" I just stared at her. I said, "Well, no. This is a swimming party and I booked it months ago, so no. Obviously I was not aware that the pool was closed." Well, our conversation goes on and basically, they changed the hours of the pool and nobody noticed that I had a party booked at that time. I even brought up how irritating it was that I had double checked just about 2 weeks earlier. She was very apologetic and they offered to do this big inflatable obstacle course in the gym, free of charge. (Yah, no duh. Free of charge!) They ended up refunding part of the cost and they did what they could to make it right. Even as MAD as I was at the time, I have to admit now that they handled it all pretty well. It was sucky and frustrating, but oh well. The kids LOVED the obstacle course. I even asked Quayd later what he thought of his party, and he thought it was wonderful. My biggest gripe is that I worked so hard making the invitations, cupcakes and party favors, which were fish themed. So it seemed stupid that they didn't go with the party. Yes, I know. I am a freak. But this is the hell that I live in. If you know me at all, you know how freaked out I get when things don't go exactly as planned. I try to be accommodating and relaxed, but I am just not. I notice that I get better with age, but I am still not perfect. I have to say this though. Thank goodness for Holly. She decided to come with her boys to the party and she stayed with me the whole time. I couldn't have made it without her. She visited with me and it totally calmed my nerves so I didn't have a complete meltdown during the ordeal. Let me share a few pictures.







When the party was over, and the parents were picking the kids up, Brett challenged GJ to a race on the obstacle course. It was so funny, and the kids LOVED watching.


Ok, enough of the party. Moving on.... So of course, we had a funeral on the morning of Quayd's Birthday, but for that night, I had made arrangements with my boss for us to be able to stay at the hotel. I thought it would be cool for Quayd to be able to invite a friend to stay, and of course, he wanted Brennen. Well, Brayden felt bad, so I let him come too. I went to the room early and decorated it. I put Quayd's gift in there and bought tons of treats.

We ordered Pizza for dinner, swam in the pool and watched movies. Quayd and Brayd slept in one bed, Brett and I in the other, and we made Brennen a bed on the floor.

They have a yummy breakfast every morning so we ate, showered and came home. Quayd and Brennen showered together and they had so much fun!!! We could hear them giggling clear down the hall!



It was really a pretty good Birthday, all things considered. I just can't believe that my baby is 6. I usually get so emotional around his Birthday. It brings back so many memories of the whole event. Getting him here was so difficult and I am reminded of the miracle every August 30th. He is such an amazing kid and I love him so much. I often wonder why I was chosen to be his mother. I can see so much potential in him and I know he will grow up to be AMAZING! I just hope I don't totally screw him up before he reaches his goals. He told Brett and I just today that when he gets a little bigger, he would like to play soccer in the Olympics. I hope he can. And I hope he never quits dreaming about it. I love you my little Quayd-er-ade!! Happy Birthday!!!