Happy birthday, Todd!

My baby boy turned 9 today. He woke everybody up saying,"You HAVE to tell me happy birthday!" I told him, "No! You have to stay little!" Somehow, I don't think I am going to win that argument.

We usually only have small family parties, but he really wanted to invite friends to his birthday this year. Despite the short notice, he had a lot of kids show up! They aren't even all in this picture. I think we were still rounding up some who were playing football in the field. 

Todd listened to everybody sing "Happy Birthday" to him with his usual personality traits shining through. I love this kid. I really do. Sometimes I think I should have named him Isaac since it means "laughter."

Then, being the well-trained child he is, he blew out his candles slowly to make sure I got the pictures. These candles are great for that, though, because although they aren't trick candles they are difficult to blow out!

After presents, cake, goodie bags, and hotdogs, the boys all went back out to the field to play football and have some swordfights on the hill. I had fun sitting on the picnic table and cheering for the littler guys. It distracted me from thinking about Todd only having 364 days left of a single-digit age.

Happy birthday, Todd! I love you! And for the record, I still think you should stay small for a long time!