James is 8!

Well, I figure I had better hurry up and post this post before Alex's birthday happens tomorrow!

Happy belated birthday to James!

My little boy is now 8. It is so hard for me to believe... I am still going through withdrawals. Even when you ask him, he says that he feels like things connect more, now that he's 8. And I already feel like he's so much older. He truly is connecting the dots more, and frankly, it is a little scary! I enjoy kids when they still don't connect the dots fully, and you can tweak the system a little :-) Not James, anymore...

He has always been my go-to child. If anything needs to be done, I know I can count on James to get it done, first time, right away, and most of the time with a happy smile on his face. He's my unexpected child (I wasn't ready to be a mom, but the Lord had other plans!), yet he was the only child who could have broken me in to be the mom I have become. He teaches me how to become a better person on a daily basis. He ALWAYS keeps us on tract, by telling me when to lower my voice, when to pray for patience, and always informs us when we haven't read scriptures at night... even if it's midnight!!!! He's his Papa's boy when it comes to staying up late at night... we've found him in his bed sneaking his book light at 12:50 in the morning... still reading... and last night as I passed out when my head hit the pillow, I woke up for a little bit at 11:45... enough to see both Todd and James reading voraciously... trying to read as much as they could before the evil Mama woke up to tell them to get to bed!

James LOVES his family. From a little boy, has always been content just spending time with his family. He's Alex's biggest fan, and Ellie walked for him before she walked for me! And James and Glenn... most of the time... are the best of friends, and will both say as much. He's such a wonderful example, and I hope his brothers and sister follow his footsteps! Thanks, James, for all that you do for me, and for your family! You are our twinkling star!

For his birthday, he wanted toast... yep... toast... so we make him a smiley faced toast! Then it was off to baseball games. Our neighbor took him out for his birthday to buy him baseball gloves... I don't know if it was because he was so excited about his birthday, or if it was his gloves, but he did an awesome job hitting that day! He looked like a little professional hitter... way to go James! Glenn had his game first, then James. So, we got to enjoy hanging out as a family at the fields, with beautiful weather! Life was bliss! What more could you ask for...

Well, this boy LOVES the New China Buffet, so we went there for lunch so James could eat his full plate of shrimp... he was in 7th heaven! Then we met some friends at the Bounce Place, and met more back home for cake and ice cream... with a Pikachu cake. James wanted to Pokemon theme... and his favorite is Pikachu. Knowing absolutely NOTHING about Pokemon, it was the best I could do. James did everything else related to Pokemon... and he did a great job! By the end of the day, we were all exhausted, but I think James had a fantastic day!! It was great.

A few weeks later, James had the wonderful opportunity to be baptized with his buddy Christopher. In our church we believe in baptism at age 8, when they are old enough to understand what they are doing, and old enough to be accountable for the covenants they make. And James has done his best to prepare for this day. He's read the Book of Mormon, and has had many wonderful teachers in church, and talks with his family, to know what this day was about. And he was SOOO excited!

It was a perfect day. We were very blessed to have Grandma and Grandpa Brown visit us for the occasion, and help participate in the program! It was such a special moment to watch him get baptized. We are so excited for him! My friend Stephanie and I wrote a song together for this special moment with my mom accompanying, and we held it together till the very end. It's so hard to sing when you have your 2 little ones smiling from ear to ear up at you ... Christopher mouthed 'I love you', and that was the end for Stephanie... which in turn ended me. It was a special experience to write the words of our hearts, and sing to our special little boys.
I'm sad that we didn't get to record this song before my mom left, but hopefully she'll be back again, so we can record it for posterity. The boys always ask me to sing it.

Well, James is now 8... I feel old... at least the sun is shining to help me feel young again! We hope all is well with everyone! And hope you are enjoying a good growing season! Garden pictures to come!