Summertime Means Free Bowling!

He’s in His Prime!

Matthew has turned eleven! Although sometimes I forget how old he is because he small for his age, he really is on the cusp of being a young man!

As usual, we had a threefold celebration. We celebrated with my family last Sunday. It was also the day we celebrated Chinese New Year so Matthew opted for Chinese almond cookies rather than cake. We did arrange them in a big eleven and we even stuck candles in them. Matthew, who is determined so show everyone that he really isn’t a little boy anymore, even lit his own candles…although he did accidentally blow a bunch out when he blew out the first match. 😉

Matthew’s real birthday was yesterday and we had a little celebration at home. We stacked up doughnuts, lit some more candles, and sang again. We also gave him his presents. He got a little Bluetooth speaker, BYU socks and  BYU football jersey from Kevin and I, a new set of ukulele strings from Nathan and a ukulele stand from Malia.

Today he had a shindig with some of his besties. He wanted to go bowling so he invited a handful of cronies and we fed them lunch and cupcakes before Kevin took them to the bowling alley. Easy party for me, fun party for Matthew!

I remember that when Matthew was born, I thought I had boys all figured out. I already had two so adding another to the mix would be no big deal, right? I also recall that Matthew totally threw me for a loop. He was, and still is, his own person. His interests are different from both Daniel’s and Nathan’s and he has his own way of doing just about everything. But honestly, it is a good thing. He is stubborn and determined and doesn’t let much of anything get in his way. He is forging his own path and is the child that reminded me how to laugh. I love him for that. I had gotten far too serious by the time he came around and he made every day an adventure. He has been an amazing addition to our family and in spite of the struggles that have come along with all his allergies, I definitely wouldn’t trade him for someone else.

Strike!!

One of the fun things about being in year round school is that the rec centers in our area have lots of fun programs available during off track times. While they were off track in September, Daniel decided he wanted to try bowling. So he went to the bowling alley twice a week and learned how to bowl. His scores were better than mine have ever been (not hard when I average forty and Daniel had bumpers up, but still) and he had a really great time. On the last day of lessons, they had a contest and the winner from each lane got a trophy. Daniel was thrilled to death with his bowling pin!