Look Who Turned 11!

That's right! Last month on June 5 Adrian turned 11 years old!!! I cannot believe that he is already 11 and going to be in the 6th grade this year....Makes me feel super old!

This year Adrian was able to spend the weekend of his birthday visiting his biological mom and he had a lot of fun with her and his siblings at her place. Unfortunately, that meant that he missed out on our camping experience at Big Eddy. However, he was in our thoughts! Adrian kept turning sticks into wands and then we thought it would be pretty fun to turn one of them into a wand for Adrian since he loves Harry Potter. When we got back from our camping trip I quickly made a certificate of authenticity that Andrew helped me with. It may have even been signed by Mr. Ollivander...*maybe* ;)

Here is the birthday boy. He got back from his visit and was getting ready for church when we gave him his presents. (He doesn't normally wear white shirts!)

Here he is with his spoils of the day. He got the wand, some Star Wars legos, swimming lessons, and the first 6 Harry Potter movies (I scored a few months back and got a really good deal on them! Love it.)

It was really funny actually because Jonathan was super excited about the wand and when Adrian came home Jonathan told him "Happy Birthday Adrian! We got you a stick for your birthday!!!" Adrian just laughed and thought he was being silly......little did he know!

Adrian decided that he wanted to have his birthday cake the next night when some friends would be coming over to have Family Home Evening with us. Jonathan got to help make the cake while Adrian was at school:

Cake success! This is the first cake I have made in at least 2 years that actually turned out and it was the first time I made one from scratch, too! Go me:) The cake was devil's food chocolate and it had white whipped frosting with fun dip powder sprinkled over it and the "11" is two fun dip sticks. Adrian loved it! So did all the kids who got a super dose of sugar that night:)

Adrian, we are so proud of the young man that you are quickly becoming. You are such an amazing person. I am always impressed at your ability to perceive what others are feeling and the effort that you make to never be the reason others are upset or hurt. You are sensitive to the language of others and strive to do what is right....most of the time! There have been some rough patches in the last year, but nothing that hasn't turned into an experience to help you grow stronger. I wish I could tell you that life just gets better and easier from here, but there are bound to be some rough days ahead since you haven't even hit your teen years yet!

You are really excited because you have started wearing deodorant and you are constantly checking with me to see if you have any "beard hairs" that you should start shaving off. You don't. You probably won't for a few years yet, but I don't want to burst your bubble so I play along. You love to play with legos and you have grown to love reading in a way that I never thought possible back when it was a major struggle in the 2nd grade. We recently had to get you a bigger bike since you outgrew your old one (along with everything else Mr. Size 8 shoe!) and you have set a new personal goal to be a bike racer. I think you should go for it, but I wonder how you will feel about that bike seat once you start going for really long rides;) You have the magic touch when it comes to calming Reagan down and getting her to go to sleep. Your little brothers and sister love you and so do we! Happy Birthday Adrian!!!!

Love, Mom