My Big Boy Quade . . .

  Quades big day finally came around for him. He was so excited to turn 7! He had been counting down the days on his calendar for over a month. It's so cute to see the excitement in their eyes at this age. He had no problem deciding what he wanted to do for his Birthday either. He knew exactly what he wanted. He chose to go to Domino's Pizza for dinner, then bring home their cinnamon rolls and watch a movie on his actual Birthday with just us. Then for his Birthday party, he had two buddies come home with him after school and play, eat more pizza, have an ice cream cake, and then call it a night. I love how decisive he was. Jordan was able to pick up Quade and his buddies from school in the fire truck. Which was the highlight of their day. It was a total surprise to Quade and the boys, and their parents were in aww too. Then they got to spray water out of the big gun on top of the truck when they got home. So amazing!! It was a total different experience for me having a boy birthday party. I've only experienced Austyn's girlie parties until now. And man what a difference!!! Quade wanted to have his party in the playhouse and have everything be camouflage. I have to admit that I enjoyed the decorations. He wanted to have a scavenger hunt, have a nerf gun war, paddle boat time, and pin the horns on the buck. The party went amazing!

  Here are some pictures of his Birthday celebrations. Sorry the photos are out of order:

At their school they have a Valentines Box competition every 

year. There are several categories to win under. And Quade

won 3rd place in most creative. He made a dinosaur out of

all items found in Papas shop. He was so excited and very 

excited to tell Papa. They worked so hard on it together. He 

won a gallon of milk from Dari Mart, $10 to the school book

fair, and a box of chocolates.

Birthday dinner at Domino's

Little boys playing with the big boy on the firetruck

Nerf war!

Quade had his eyes dilated at his eye appointment.

He thought that the glasses were pretty cool. 

Cutest boys ever. And man does Finn love Quade.

He used a gift card from his Birthday to get an amphibious 

RC car. He's been driving it in the slough around the house. 

It actually works pretty well. 

Birthday dinner with the troops! Root beer and Pizza as 

requested.

I made him this Pin the HORNS on the Buck

for his Birthday activity. Turned out pretty cute

 and they had a ball doing it. 

Paddle boating to their next clue in the scavenger

hunt.

Quade has been having some teeth issues

lately and needed to get an accessed tooth pulled.

Here he is being so brave. What you can't see is 

the TV in the ceiling. He barely knew anything was

happening with a movie playing. 

Present time in the playhouse!!

Green and Red Birthday pancakes. 

Quade got a carving set for his Birthday from

my parents. He is practicing on some soap to 

start out with. 

More Birthday fun. Traditional decorations

  Quade is doing really well in school. And will be starting baseball in the next month. He has really gotten good at shooting his .22 he got for Christmas too. He loves anything to do with rocks, dinosaurs, knives, guns, building things, shooting, fishing, quads/motorcycles, etc. He is so diverse it's very impressive. And he is so intent on watching and listening to whatever he's interested in that he learns right away. He is so fun to watch as you can almost see the wheels turning in his head as he puts things together. I love that he is still excited for school and the events that are school related. I'm sure it won't be long until the "whole boy" comes out in him and he starts hating anything to do with school. He is going to do the talent show again. He can't decide if he wants to do the harmonica again or sing a song. I love that both kids are brave enough to get up in front of so many people.

  Random pictures of Quade throughout the year:

Hunting with Daddy. 

Helping ChaCha put new flooring in at his place. I 

wasn't quite sure how well these two would work

together, but it turns out they did amazing.

More Birthday decorations. 

Fun on the equipment for the shop

Daddy's the funnest in the pool!!!

Twins! He loves dressing like Jordan. And

I think Jordan likes it too. I hear them quite often

ask each other what they're wearing for the day.

Scandinavian fun

Traditional Birthday door decorations

Team pictures. So cute at this age. 

Quade using his new hatchet Santa brought him

for Christmas.

We stopped by one afternoon and saw Jordan

at the forestation while he was teaching a class.

The kids got to break windows in a car. They

are so lucky to get to experience all that stuff. Most

adults have never gotten to break car windows. 

Summer time fun!

Can you find the monkey in the tree?

5+ hour Monopoly game and Quade took the win!

It was so painful. I won't be playing Monopoly for years. 

We visited the Albany carousel. This is where Quade

fell in love with carving. He could have stayed and watched

the carvers ALL day. 

1st grade. I just can't believe how big he has 

gotten. And so handsome.

He is obsessed with his FitBit he got for 

Christmas. He always gets his 10,000 steps. And 

this particular day he worked to see if he could

get 20,000! He is a very very determined kid. 

Shooting his .22. He is such a great shot. 

Makes my heart happy. I gotta get shooting too, so 

the kids don't pass me up. 

He got to go to a Halloween party and wanted

to go as a Zombie. I think we pulled it off pretty well.

I LOVE making their costumes. 

After he got his tooth pulled. He wanted french

fries and frozen yogurt. You got it buddy!

Got to visit a sheep barn during lambing season. 

Not exactly sure what this is. I was gone 

somewhere and looks like him and Papa 

were having some fun as always. 

When Jordan picked up the boys from school in the 

firetruck.

My little BBQing chef!

Quade has always had an amazing imagination. He

found all the pieces of trash on the playground at school

and then brought them home and made a robot out of them. 

And just like that he's 7. But still little enough to need a little

snooze now and then.