Last week was busy. It was Evan's 8th Birthday on Sunday but the celebrations began on Friday. Friday I baked cupcakes for school and of course Evan is very specific. He wanted homemade frosting for school. He loves shortening frosting since it forms a hard crust. His friends seem to like Buttercream so I did that for his classmates. There is a peanut allergy in his class so that always adds to the challenge of baking. Friday I had to stay late at school for a meeting and I came home and Evan had a classmate here since his mom needed a babysitter for a bit. I started his Buffalo Bills cake and we worked on cleaning the house.
Our families joined us on Saturday and Evan really didn't want anything special for his birthday. He has mentioned our xbox has been freezing since we added the Lego Dimension game to it and after seeing a neighbors xbox one he said he would like one. Our families were very generous with money and gift cards. Evan is so thorough that although he has enough to purchase his new xbox he wants to wait until his doesn't work anymore. I laughed that he has more cash in the house than I do. Generally I put his birthday money in his college account and I still will a good sum in from his Grandmas and my Great Aunt but since he didn't get gifts he can hold on to his cash. He also received 2 target cards, a Dicks sporting goods card, and some new gifts. We also ended up doing Christmas with Marc's Aunt and cousins. I have to admit it was nicer doing it now that during the holidays.
Sunday Evan had two friends come over to play and we had pizza for lunch. I baked more cupcakes since Evan destroyed the cake taking the frosting off it when I wasn't looking. We then headed over to Bounce Magic where Sara had a friend meet us and Evan had another friend meet us. The kids played for two hours and we were relieved to end the celebrations. Marc and I gave Evan a flag football set, a Mario Williams jersey (he insisted this is what he wanted even though the plans are to cut him from the team), a large Lego set, and a Madden 25 game. His friends gave him a Sammy Watkins jersey, a Bills pillow pet, and a gift card.
I still can't believe I have an 8 year old. Evan is my really smart boy. His teacher writes on all his progress reports and report cards that he is always the role model for the class. His reading is fantastic. Lately he has been reading the I survived books. He amazes me he is reading about Pompeii, the Nazi Invasion, Gettysburg, and Pearl Harbor. He loves history and sports. He is amazing with his knowledge of football. He reads sports books and the sports page in the paper constantly.
Evan and Sara are both doing Common Core math at first I was frustrated with it but as we do it more and more and I see how well they are doing I am probably one of the few that like it. Both of them are really strong in math. Evan picked up on multiplication a few months ago on the way home from a playdate. He told me a friend with an older sibling is learning it and as soon as I explained it he caught on. He is a mini calculator and added all his birthday money as he opened cards.
This week was valentine parties at school. My kids had zero interest in filling out paper valentines. I remember having such fun choosing who would get each valentine. So we made some M&M tubes and put stickers on them (well I did and Sara helped a bit). Sara had her party yesterday and they made fruit kabobs and Evans was supposed to be today except we have a snowday.
We are off all of next week and are headed for an overnight at a water park in Niagara Falls Canada with another family. I can't wait to see how the exchange rate brings down the prices. Canada is usually much more expensive than the US but the looney is only worth .72 cents to the US Dollar.
