SEVEN!

This kid turned SEVEN last weekend!  How is time flying so fast?  I cannot believe how confident he has become -- thinking back to the kid who used to cower behind my legs at any new experience, now I can't even keep him close to me long enough to give him a hug.  He has become quite the book worm, who still wakes up early but now the only reason we know he's awake is we see the light under the crack in his door -- his nose is in a book most mornings before we even know he's up.  His love for playing soccer continues to grow, and we just found out he was picked by his coach to play on the all star team for his age group this upcoming week.  All in all, Ry continues to be a funny, sarcastic, yet kind hearted kid, and we couldn't be more proud of him.  Love you so much Rhino!

For his birthday, against our usual tradition of waiting until after dinner, we let Ry open his gifts first thing in the morning, because he just couldn't wait any longer!  Then he had a soccer game, and the rest of the day we just kind of hung out.  We had my parents and Cristen over for dinner, and one of my favorite moments was when we all went around the table and said what we love most about Ryan.  The look on his face as each person shared was priceless.  A good tradition -- I highly recommend it.

The day after his birthday we took a few of his buddies up to a trampoline place near our house, and let them all jump their hearts out for an hour.  And jump they did.  But Eddy was jumping higher and harder than any of them, it was hilarious!  Then we came back to our house and had pizza and cake.  And called it Ryan's birthday party.  And boy was he happy.

All in all, a great way to celebrate a great kid.

birthday lunch -- who doesn't want a sandwich with a candle in it? 

Skyping with Luxembourg 

he thinks he's so funny 

birthday dessert -- home made ice cream sandwich, with yet another candle

trampoline party!

hungry kids waiting for the pizza