11 years old

Mason is 11!

Where did the time go? 

Today while decorating our living room I was reflecting these 11 years. First, I can't be that old to have an 11 year old. But that happens when someone has a child at 18. Second, 11 is such a tough age. The in-between stage of childhood and manhood. So these next few years might carry some difficulty with all those teenage "weirdness" that happens to someone. But that's alright. Now is the time to start teaching him the manners of a man. Last, I truly love him. Even though Mason and I bump heads more often than ever I love him so much. Heavenly Father gave me the gift of a "gifted son". 

So to celebrate his birthday we, as a family, did whatever we could to make this day special.

With Mike working today we woke up Mason alittle early so he could open his gift from us. 

 It was comforting to hear him gasp from excitement. We did good!

 (Skylanders are always a good thing for 11 year olds)

 And usually we allow our kids to play hooky from school on their birthdays but today Mason wanted to attended class. He wanted to celebrate his birthday with his classmates. Cute but a sign that he's growing up. So I made him his special birthday wrapped lunch. And sent him off with 30 packages of cookies for his classmates.

 After school he went on a Grandparents date where they spoiled him with a new shirt, new coat, and another Skylander.

 And now our family celebration. Hailey made and decorated his birthday cake. She wanted to do a service for him on his birthday. Sweet gesture ♥

 But first he opened his gifts from his sisters.

 A T-rex book from Lily

 A coupon book from Hailey. Her coupons are good for 1 bed making, 1 dessert, and 1 load of laundry (<---- I'll take that one)

 And Ducati gave him a Boston hat since it had a "B" for big brother. So cute to go shopping with her.

 Cake time!

I wonder what he wished for..... I can take a leap and say it's for another Skylander.

After gifts, cake and some pizza we headed out for last activity.

We went to see the movie Oz.

   photo source

Side Note: this movie was OK. My family and I were so super excite to see this movie. Plus with the rating of PG Mike and I didn't think about checking out certain websites on what the movie contains. Plus it's Wizard of Oz! But for the PG rating it seemed more like PG-13...or at least borderline.
Our 3 girls were scared 90% of the movie. I admit some things were questionable for me. But then again Mike and I are strict on what our kids watch. We feel honored that our kids are not desensitized from all the media garbage. We enjoy wholesome family movies and this is one we would not have taken our girls too. But since we were there for Mason's birthday we didn't want to walk out (which we've done before). But thanks to Mike's quick thinking he picked up 2 small popcorns and gave them to the girls. This helped our girls concentrate on something else other than their fear. Thank goodness for popcorn! :-)  

But Mason liked the movie but then again he likes all movies.

 He enjoyed his day so much. He kept saying this was the best day ever. Mike and I were so happy to hear from him that he enjoyed his birthday.

Another side note: When Mike got off work he picked up some things I needed from the store. When he came home he gave me my bag of purchases and some flowers. He thanked me for giving him a son. ( ♥ melt my heart why don't you) Honey, don't thank me. Thank Heavenly Father who knew I needed Mason more than I ever knew. That through God's plan you were able to gain a son. 

But hey.... I'm not going to let some beautiful flowers go to waste. :-)