Seven

Where do I even start?  This kid has so obviously changed our lives.  These last 7 years have been an absolute joy.  Below are some photos of his birthday weekend.

Birthday at home with both sets of Grandparents (picture them in your head).

Spitting on the cake we're all about to eat.

The day after his birthday we had a party with his buddies at the bowling alley.  I lectured Matt before we got there about how I needed him to help host.  The first thing he did was walked up to the snack counter and ordered 3 pitchers of beer.  He came back all proud and I'm all: you ordered something for the 13 kids arriving any second too right?  And he's all like: oops.  He did manage to convince this cute little waitress to come find me and ask what else we wanted so he redeemed himself quickly.

Below are a few pics from the par-tae.

Granny Annie

Birthday Boy

Colin and Charlie (RC in background)

Bear with me on this sidenote: this was taken in the Fall of 2008 on a Preschool fieldtrip.  Charlie's friends Colin and RC (pictured above) are the 2 kids in black in the middle.  They started out as forced friends, because I liked their moms and therefore made the kids hang out, and now they actually like each other and have real big kid conversations. (single tear, where did the time go?)

Charlie and his hommies.

Everyone blowing out the candles but Charlie?  Molly (front right) getting smacked for it.

This has nothing to do with his party but everything to do with how grown up he is....

Big Man at the Orthodontist pulling his mouth open so they could take pictures of his teeth.  Charlie was full of 1-liners at the orthodontist's office.  Assistant: OK Charlie, make your mouth as big as it will go.  Charlie:  You know who has a big mouth?  My sister.  And she uses it all the time to TALK.  Later, Assistant: Charlie hold really still while this xray machine moves around your head and takes pictures of your teeth.  Charlie: Wait.  Are you cloning me? 

Can't wait to see what the next 7 years will bring!  I'm predicting braces and science club and more talking back and many basketball games.  Looking forward to it! (well, some of it)