Alex is NINE!

 Our Alex is nine and I can't believe it! He is our creative, nerf-loving, Lego-building, anti-reading, energetic, math-loving, pre lawyer (boy, can this kid argue!), wheel n'dealer (you do NOT want to be the person working the prize counter at Chuck E. Cheese when he comes to cash in his tickets), thinker, problem solver, big helper (most of the time) kid! His feet were bigger than mine at 8 1/2 years old. He almost looks me in the eye, already. We have such a fun relationship. There are times when we just get so goofy together and we laugh, and laugh. He loves to make jokes and has frequently made me laugh so hard I am crying with his (correct) use of adult sarcasm. He is constantly listening to Andy and I talk and is butting in and offering his two cents in the matter. One night we got frustrated with his eavesdropping and he simply said, "I'm just mature. I need to listen to adult conversation because it is way more interesting than the baby talk I usually hear." He wants to grow up TOO fast. :(  He loves to focus on one thing at a time and become an absolute expert in it. He can tell you about every single Nerf gun available and details about each. He cleared a work table in the garage to display his hoards of nerf guns that he has bought with chore money. He is very careful with them, and only certain people are allowed to touch them. Thank heavens he has some that are "brother approved". We have had many a Nerf gun war in our house over the long summer. There are times when he makes me want to tear all my hair out, and there are many times when I consider him one of my best friends. I LOVE THIS KID SO MUCH. I can't wait to see the places he'll go with all his drive and determination. Many great posts to come about this kid, I'm sure!

 He had  Lego birthday party this year.

 He HAD to include Nerf guns in part of the Lego party. This is a game we played. The kids had to shoot nerf bullets at the balloons and each had a point value.

 First we took the kids to play laser tag. This was their favorite part!