Happy Birthday Rice.

My letter to you Rice on your 8th birthday.

Every year I have an overwhelming amount of emotions as you turn another year older.  You are the one that made me a mother, eight wonderful years ago.  The years have flown by and I have watched you grow from a newborn, to a chunky one year old, to a happy toddler, to a thoughtful little boy, to a smart big kid, and now into the passionate, lovable, funny boy who loves school, loves his friends, and loves his family.

I love watching you with your friends.  You are still learning how to put other people's feelings first but even with little bumps you can tell you care so deeply for those around you.  You love to run and play and be a rough and tumble boy.  You easily make new friends and you seem to have friends that have all different interests.  You can be a leader but you can also let others take the lead when it is their time.

I love watching you play with your brother and sister.  You love them dearly even though you would like Hadley to stop giving you kisses every once in a while.  You let Oliver join in and play along even when you would rather have some time to your self.  You set a wonderful example for you brother and your sister.  You are kind which is one of the most important things to be.

I love watching you play sports.  You are such a passionate kid.  You give it your all every time you step onto the field or onto the court.  You haven't chosen just one sport to love yet but it is fun to see you grow each season.  You work hard.  You are a good sport.  You listen to your coach.  You cheer on your teammates.  You are growing into such a big kid but I see the little toddler running around without a care in the world when I look at you sometimes.  Don't even get me started on watching you watch sports on the TV (lets just say you give excellent play by play replays.)

I know this next year will fly by like all eight years before.  But my wish for you is to live life light heartedly.  You know how to have a good time do not get me wrong but you also are so serious and even hard on yourself at times.  I want you to not be afraid to try new things even though you might not do them perfectly the first time.  I want you to not be afraid to ask for help when you need it.  There is a time for being serious but a life of an eight year old should be full of exploration without too many second thoughts. 

Since I am forever late in posting this...I am putting in a few pictures from our spring break that shows you having so much fun just being 8.

Oliver is growing up.

So that little bitty baby that once lived in our house that cried sometimes but was relatively happy, just isn't around anymore.  Now we have a two year old that runs and tackles me, wants to steal my baseball hats, sleeps in a big bed, goes potty on his own, can almost swim, and can ride on his scoot bike like it is his job.

I can't believe it.

I will leave out the potty training pictures because hey, he will one day be eight like me.

Easter

Another Easter has come and gone.  This year the Easter bunny came a few days early and left us a scavenger egg hunt to find some chocolate eggs.  I think he thought Oliver needed a warm up and I wasn't complaining because all that reading counted as my reading homework for the night.  We dyed eggs and made our traditional bunny cake but this year we did it all by ourselves.  Others were afraid to eat it but I declared it the yummiest bunny cake yet. 

Then we had egg hunt after egg hunt after egg hunt on Easter.  It was all perfect.

Reading clues and hunting.

 Jelly bean eating and easter egg dying.

 Cooking and creating a masterpiece.

 Easter morning.

 Oliver wasn't impressed with mommy's photoshoot.

 Grandpa and Catherine's

 And Nana and Papa's

Spring break

Spring break was great.  Nana and Papa let us borrow their house in Marco for the week.  We missed them but we had a good time with just our little family of five.  We swam. A lot.  We beached. A lot.  We ate fish. A lot.  (Mommy and daddy perfected their fish taco recipe and it was perfectly yummy.)  We rented a boat for a day and we were all exhausted when we returned it.  We visited some private islands, found some amazing shells, visited our first food boat, and saw tons of dolphins.  Oliver learned to swim.  Well almost.  He still needs lots of help from mommy and daddy but this summer he may be able to swim across the pool.  Hadley perfected her sand gymnastics when it wasn't too windy.  And I got a bike and biked around the island with whoever wanted to join.

Lots of fun in the pool. 

Jumping is kind of our favorite.

 The beach is pretty great too.

So much to do.

 Boating.

 It's impossible to get a picture of all of us jumping at the same time.

Mainly because Hadley didn't get the 1,2,3, jump instructions.

 Sunset on the beach.