Kai's 10th Birthday

Kai turned 10 on Sunday May 14th.  Last year his actual birthday fell on the same day as Finn's walk and so he invited friends to the walk for his "party".  So, this year I wanted to make sure that he felt special.  He decided that he wanted to have a party at Summit (a local bowling alley, arcade, and laser tag place).  We scheduled the party for Saturday the 13th.  At the time we originally scheduled the party, Finn's tennis fundraiser was being held on Bree's birthday, but then it all fell apart and we had to move the fundraiser to Kai's party day.  It made for a busy, fun day.  Kai opted for the laser tag party (instead of bowling) which meant the kids got one round of laser tag and $10 to spend at the arcade.  We also had pizza and time for cake and presents.  Kai invited 8 friends and only had 6 show, which meant that Reid got to play laser tag and Bree got her own arcade card.  We all had a great time, even with our little group!

Kingston's stealing the show in the front and in the back you see Kai sitting next to his "best friend" Nathan

The Summit mascot came around.  I think his name is Stryker.  In the picture are Makayla, Kai, Kingston, Nathan, Reese (under the pink hat), and Hayden.  Missing is Kael, who showed up later.

Laser tag

Bree and I went into the laser tag arena to watch the game and boy did her outfit glow!

Kai had a Darth Vader cake.  And he was appropriately sitting next to the kids that I would consider his best friends--Nathan and Reese.

The next day (his actual birthday) we gave him presents from us and sang Happy Birthday again and ate the left over cake.  I also make him his favorite dinner--tortellini.

A Kinex rollercoaster

I can't believe this kid is 10!  He is turning into a fine young man and is such a gentle, sweet soul.  He excels in the classroom and is a good brother at home (most of the time).  He loves people, reading, learning, and school.  In fact, on the last day of school he was wishing it were just the first day because he was so sad he was going to miss it!

I normally don't "brag" about how smart my kids may be.  I don't find it something that should be shared as a badge of honor.  Yes, I am incredibly proud of how intelligent my children are, but I want them to learn that hard work is more important than brains, and that being a good person is much more valuable that being a smart person.  That being said, I want to save Kai's test scores somewhere around here, so here they are.  He blew the tests this year right out of the water.  His reading lexile score puts him at a college reading level and his math scores have him ready for geometry.  Like I said, there is more to life than brains, and with Kai those are the aspects we are working on, because when it comes to smarts he has more than enough.  We are proud of him and love him lots!  (If you are looking closely (you don't have to, but I wanted to explain if you were) Kai gets tested 3 times a  year.  Most kids are tested at just the beginning and the end of the year, but with the kids on either the top of the charts or the bottom of the charts they test them in the middle of the year as well just to make sure that they are getting the growth from them that they'd like to see.)