8 is great!!

8? Really? 8? So hard to believe it was 8 years ago that this bouncy baby boy made me a mom. I remember it like it was yesterday! His birthday was on a school day and he had gymnastics that night so we had to push off most of the celebrating to the weekend. He is getting really hard to buy for so after school I took him to the toy store and let him pick something out. He also had money burning a hole in his pocket to spend, so he came away with this giant monkey, a new board game, some headphones, and a dress up archer costume. Not sure what it is with stuffed animals and my kids ( I despise them) but they LOVE them! I even threw 4 garbage bags full of them away before we moved! Anyway, I guess there are worse things out there to love right? 

After gymnastics we did eat out at one of his favorite restaurants, "The Chicken Coop" It really doesn't matter where we eat, he always orders the same thing, chicken strips! 

Friday night he took his best buddies from our old neighborhood, Duke and Hunter to SkyZone. This is an indoor trampoline place and dodge ball court. They had a blast and were soaked in sweat afterwards! Luckily Jeremy was their taxi driver while I drove the other 2 kiddos around! 

After Skyzone, we headed to pizza ranch to stuff our faces, then back home for some Scratch Cupcakery. If you have never had these amazing little packages of sugar, they are to die for! 

Saturday morning, Darcie, Jill, Carter and I went horseback riding at Jester Park. Carter has been wanting to do this for a long time! Darcie checked into it and you had to be 8 or older to ride, so perfect! It was an absolutely beautiful morning for a trail ride around Saylorville Lake and Carter did great on his horse, Chief. Chief was actually the naughtiest horse of the bunch, but Carter did his best to get him to behave! 

So I haven't ridden a horse in like, 15 years and my golly my hips, butt and back hurt so bad after that hour long ride, I wasn't so sure I would ever walk straight again! 

Carter's Favorites: Year 8
1. Favorite food: walking tacos or chicken nuggets
2. Favorite color: Yellow
3. Favorite sport: Baseball
4. Favorite team: Huskers
5. Favorite movie: Expendables 2
6. Favorite thing about school: " Well it certainly isn't lunch"..recess I guess
7. What do you want to be when you grow up? : Baseball player
8. If you could go anywhere on vacation where would you go? Disney world ( yes I know, maybe next year!)
9. What is your favorite thing to do? Play outside with friends.
10. Why are you special? Because I am me! 

As I am typing this, I think about how much Carter has grown and changed and how it makes me so happy, yet so sad. He and I really don't get to spend that much time together as Jeremy tends to taxi him to all his events while I manage the other two. They obviously share more interests than he and I do, and he and I often butt heads on many things as we are more alike than we know I think. At times, I feel like he has moved on from needing his mom, doesn't want me around all the time, but then I am reminded how much hasn't changed, he still wants tucked in at night, often wants me to sleep with him, asks me how my day was, still sleeps with his baby blanket, and often asks me to do things with him like play catch, go to a movie, or ride bikes. I guess change is good, we can't control it, but it doesn't have to control us! Happy birthday buddy!