Sunday, February 7, 2010

Dallin's Seventh Birthday

Well, it's official. Dallin is seven years old. His birthday was on Tuesday, February 2. Groundhog Day. My little baby groundhog. Of course he wanted a hunting birthday again. I am still amazed by how much he loves hunting. You know your kid is well on his way to being a redneck when you search at Toys-R-Us for an hour and can't find ANYTHING for him, then stop at Cal Ranch on the way home and have trouble stuffing it all in the cart. And he was thrilled with every last target and arrow and piece of camo... weird. But whatever makes him happy. Especially when it makes his Dad VERY happy to have a little clone. The best thing about Dallin loving hunting so much is that Jason will do the whole birthday party. All I have to do is make the cupcakes and buy the cake. He decorates them, plans the games, takes the afternoon off work to manage 12 over-sugared six and seven-year-olds... it's great. Dallin's birthday this year started on Sunday with a party at his Grandma and Grandpa Yates' house. Here he is blowing out the candle on the camo cupcakes that Jason decorated:

A close-up of the cupcakes:
It's good that he's turning seven because he only has about seven teeth in his mouth these days.
Seven! Don't mind the Tang mustache. Showing off all his loot with Abby.
Then it was on to his friend party on his birthday. Here he is blowing out the candles on the hunting cake Jason decorated. The theme he chose this year was turkey hunting, so there is Hunter Dan, shooting at a turkey through some trees, a few decoys and of course, the candles. I don't think the turkey stood a chance.
Dallin's little friend Issac, in the bottom right corner, told us he was also turning seven that day. I really didn't believe him, so I asked his mom when she came to pick him up and she said yes, he really was! They were born on the same day. He is our neighbor on one side, and our neighbor across the street, Hank, turned 5 that same day! When my sisters came over later, they said they didn't know which party to attend because there were so many cars parked in the street.Dallin wanted to teach his friends the finer points of shed horn hunting, so he had Jason give them a little lesson on finding sheds and then they went down to the basement to search. Dallin takes it very seriously.Yay, they all found some!Then there was a shooting competition.
Then they played Pin the Beard on the Turkey. Yeah, I didn't know turkeys had beards either. Until one day I found a disgusting, suspicious-looking tuft of black hair in my kitchen, and Jason, upon investigating my screams, told me it was a turkey beard. Lovely. Thanks for bringing it home to share, honey.

And here we are, the whole family on his birthday. Including the new life-size deer target. I'm not sure if he has a name yet. I'll keep you posted. It is unbelievable to me that I really have a seven year old. Dallin is such a good, sweet kid and I'm so proud of the person he is growing into. He is soooooo funny. His first grade class wrote him happy birthday letters and his teacher made them into a book. It was so much fun to read what the kids wrote. Dallin obviously has a lot of friends and is definitely the class clown. Almost every single kid told him they like him because he is funny. A few of the girls said cute things like, "I like your freckles." "I like your hair." "I like your shirt everyday." "Hi, my name is Audrey but I don't think you know what I am talking about." Ha ha. One boy said, "Dallin, will you please be my friend? Please! Please! Please! Please!" What? I never had kids begging to be my friend when I was in first grade! Dallin is also very bright and loves to read and learn. I can't believe how much he has grown and changed in the last year. I wish I could just freeze time. He is at such a perfect age. Old enough to be such an individual but still young enough to need his mama. The house just isn't the same all day while he is at school. I really miss him while he is gone and can't wait to hear him come in the door and tell me all about his day. He loves recess, P.E., computers, basketball, Hershey's chocoate bars, and falling asleep with his ten stuffed animals from Cabela's in his arms every night. Dallin, I love you so much!! I'm so proud to be a part of your life. Thanks for letting me be your mom and learn from you everyday.

9 comments:

Stephanie said...

I can't believe how grown up he looks.

I thought for a minute that maybe the party had been held at Cabela's, then I realized it was your basement!

Christa said...

We are sorry we couldn't make it on his birthday! It looks like he had a great day!

The Spradlin Family said...

Your kids are so adorable and have gotten so big! I couldn't believe that those kids in your family picture were yours! We need to do lunch sometime before they're all in college. Call me soon and we'll plan something. Tell Dallin happy birthday.

a-anderson said...

He is so cute. I love the party. It is SO BOY. Cole would love all the shooting games! All your kids are getting so big!

carrie said...

I can't believe Dallin is 7. What a handsome boy he is. I love those cupcakes Jason decorated. They're seriously awesome! What a fun idea for a party...and I don't blame you for being excited to have someone else do the activities. That is so nice of Jason to do that. I'm sure he loved it though. :o) I'm so glad he had a good b-day. What a great kid. Was there any doubt that is how he would turn out? Seriously.... you're amazing. xoxo

Anonymous said...

HAPPY B-DAY DALLIN!! He's so handsome and sounds like he's still a sweetheart, too. Miss you and hope we can catch up soon :)

Shelly said...

You are such a good mom! I can't believe that he is already 7 years old. I remember the day that you told us that you were pregnant because we were on our way home from Idaho and you were so sick. I wish that us cousins could see each other more often. At least we have blogs and facebook to keep in touch. You have a beautiful family.

Shauna said...

Dallin is seven? Seriously? He is so grown up. So cute! I just can't believe so much time has gone by. What a party too! All of the boys must have just loved it. Your such a great mom Anne Marie!

Heidi J. said...

It looks like Dallin had a wonderful day! I have to tell you that Bailie told me she sould of called and told Dallin happy birthday! I thought oh she rembers that they have the same birthday.