Joel is 9!

Today is Joel's 9th birthday. Our kids are growing up so fast! At nine-years-old, Joel loves playing and watching sports (specifically soccer, basketball, and football), loves his daddy's favorite teams (Oregon State, Seahawks, and the Blazers), and he enjoys sciency things. He whips through his math homework and loves to learn about things in nature. He's been very into the frog unit they've been working on at school. Last year, it was the Amazon rainforest. We become "experts" in these areas, too. :) He doesn't love to read, but we finally discovered a book series that captured his interest. They are historical fiction (makes sense, as he likes to learn, and he likes facts), a series called "I Survived." Each book centers around some kind of disaster in history. It was a major victory when he told us he actually wanted to keep reading one night and wanted to finish his book!

One of the things we've prayed for Joel is that he would become a young man of courage, and we've seen him growing in this area. He's learning to become more assertive. He is a wonderful big brother and very patient with his little brother who is constantly wanting to be with him and do what he does. He has his limits, though, we've seen, and that's a good thing. :-) Joel is pretty easy to get along with, most of the time, and has lots of friends. For his birthday, he invited a bunch of those friends to go play laser tag at the new arena here in Gresham. Some of us parents played with them, and it was SO MUCH FUN! I'd never played before, but now I see why they all love it. Our whole family was able to play, even Grant. We played for an hour and then had cupcakes afterwards. I think it will go down as one of Joel's favorite parties. The kids all had a GREAT time.

Later that same day, we had his family party--lots of family members there to celebrate our big 9 year-old. Rhubarb crisp was his dessert request. (It would have tasted better if I had remembered to put sugar on the rhubarb! Oh well. We had ice cream, and that helped.)

Monday morning was a his birthday breakfast with Grandpa. He got to go shooting afterwards, which he LOVED and was pretty good at, too!

 

Here's Dad's video. You can see for yourself what a good shot he is.

Joel's 9th Birthday - Breakfast+ with Grandpa from Cornerstone on Vimeo.


Joel's at school today, hopefully having a good day. We're going to make some snickerdoodles for an after-school birthday treat. They're one of his favorites. On with the birthday celebration!