03.16.1999

That's the date my firstborn entered the world. Wow. Excuse me a moment while I tear up.... and get all sappy. When I got pregnant with him, I had no idea what to expect. I had no idea what wonderful, surprising, exhausting, challenging, marvelous things were in store for me. I had no idea that he'd be obsessed with trains, sharks, space. I wouldn't have guessed he'd be a math genius. I would not have believed that I would actually cry at his hockey games. I had no idea he'd be good at just about anything he tries. I wouldn't have thought he'd be such a challenge at times. I couldn't have imagined the rewards. I certainly had no idea how my heart would grow a million times over. I could never imagine how fast time would fly, how much and how quickly he would GROW. I would never have guessed by ten years old his feet would be exactly the same size as mine.

Today my 'baby' is eleven. Two ones. What in the world!

Over the weekend my parents come down to celebrate with him (us). We went bowling, to the arcade at the bowling alley, out to lunch, came home for cake and ice cream and presents and overall had a very nice time.

He wasn't loving the first game of bowling because he kept gutterballing it. He even pouted some. Ah, my competitive boy. Ruby was happy to line up her little kitties and watch.




The second game he figured it out and got two strikes in a row. This one ended up to be a strike.





He's the luckiest kid around, usually...



Some teenager gave him extra ticket points.




Ruby really got into the shooting game.



Actually, everyone did.




When we went home, we had cake and ice cream. He was impressed with the cake - I tried to make a math cake that had equations that equaled 11.



Figuring the only "hard" equation out...







From my parents, he got the ever so cool Wild quilt, a couple of games, oh my there's a whole long list.



We got him a skateboard. He's more excited about it (I think) than shows in this photo...



Ruby loved the cake. Well more like she loved the fondant and the icing. She was certainly sugared up for the day and combined with no nap... wheeeee!



Today after school his dad is taking him to the Wild game. It'll be his second Wild game this week. Like I said, lucky kid. And I'm lucky to have him.

Happy birthday, Boo. Jiminy. Bud. James I love you. We love you.