Sunshine In My Soul

Moosey Moose turned 9...

like a whole week and a half ago. I know, I'm the best mom, ever! And totally on the ball.

His birthday happened to be on a Saturday and the morning went just like this:

"Mom. Mom."

I was rudely interrupted from a deep sleep, with his hot breath swirling through my ear. As I tried to make sense of what was going on, I heard, "Mom. It's my birthday! Can we open presents?"

I looked around and it was VERY apparent that the sun was still sleeping. "Bud, what time is it?" I grumbled.

"5:30. Can I open my presents?"

"Um, no. We need to let everyone sleep until 6:30 at least."

45 minutes later I heard his feet brushing across the carpet as he made his way back to our room. Really Moose? So we gathered everyone to the family room, where I quickly realized just how much I miss the morning light from our old house. This house has NO LIGHT in the mornings. None. Bummer!

So, I cranked my ISO all the way up to 6400, opened up my aperture, and slowed my shutter speed as much as I could without ruining the picture and snapped a few...

And so it LOOKS like there is light in there...but looks can be deceiving! Ha! He got what he's been wanting (and asking for every single day for the last month): some more Yu-Gi-Oh cards, the new Star Wars Lego game for the Wii, and a pair of laser tag guns. He decided that he got to chose a favorite breakfast, lunch, and dinner meal. He chose Oven Pancakes for breakfast, Some Burro's for lunch, and mom's tacos for dinner. The rest of the day was spent running around to soccer games, soccer team pictures, a cousin's super belated birthday party, etc.

A few more shots from our day...

Nine things I CURRENTLY love about our Moose:

1. You are 100% committed to becoming a rockstar. The other night, at dinner, you mentioned that you might want to make up a dance routine to "Viva, Las Vegas" so you could perform at the school talent show. We decided to turn some music on to just kind of see what moves you would come up with. For the next 30 minutes you entertained us while lip syncing and dancing to Queen's "We Will Rock You", Jay Sean's "Down", and all kinds of other goodie's. We laughed until our bellies could take no more! Daddy even video-taped some of your performances. I really should figure out how to actually put a movie on here. Entertainment at it's finest!

2. You are confident. When you were telling me that you need to take guitar lessons the other day so that you could be the next big star like Justin Bieber, I asked you if you would be okay with all of the girls in the world being in LOVE with you. "Well, yah!" was your reply. And it kind of came out like a "DUH!" Then you said, "There already are a few girls in my class who are in love with me!" Well, okay then. Maybe I should be a little frightened for your teenage years!

3. You love music. You are always singing, whether you realize it or not. You make up songs while you make your lunch in the mornings, while you unload the dishwasher or set the table. And when I tuck you in at night and sing you a song, you always add your own flair...by syncopating different words, by adding your own tune, by making it yours.

4. You are a home body. Sometimes I laugh when I listen to you call a friend to see if they can play. Sometimes they say they can, but that they have to play at their own home. You will often say, "Ok then. Maybe another time." You prefer to be here than anywhere else.

5. You still play with my hair when you sit by me. You had an especially low voice as a little toddler and I'll never forget your first whole sentence as you buried your nose in my golden locks, "Mommy, I like your hair!" I love that you still love to play with my hair.

6. You love to laugh. Tonight at dinner, you let a little fluffergnoogen escape. Normally I'm not at all okay with that, but you immediately got the giggles, which quickly spread to enormous belly laughs from the whole family. I love that you love to laugh! Not so much when we are trying to discipline you and you think it's funny and start laughing...that's NOT my favorite! We're hoping it's "just a phase" that you're gonna grow quickly out of! :)

7. You still love babies. You love to touch their toes, rub your nose on their, and rub their fuzzy heads, of course. You would sit and hold them for hours and hours, if you could.

8. You're a great student and always do your best.

9. You're my snuggly teddy bear.

Love you, Moose!!!