Sutton is 10! Part 2

Make sure to read the last post first! This is a continuation.

Another of Sutton's loves is his go kart! It's been great because he's already become a super good driver. Adam has taught him to be cautious but also to have fun, and when I ride with him, I'm always impressed by how well he does. With reversing too! He loves driving this thing around our trails, and Ren got his own go kart last month - Sutton kinda loves driving that one more because it's smaller and more maneuverable.

We always have to lock Riddick in the house when Sutton drives the go kart because that dog is insane. He literally does not know how to stop so he will run with that thing until his heart gives out. He is a fast dog, and he keeps up with it, but he has worn holes through his own paw pads because he just can't stop! And he barks incessantly while he's doing it, and darts right in front of it too.

Sutton's other main love is his Nintendo Switch. He mostly uses it for Minecraft (as shown on the screen in the second photo) and also some Mario Odyssey, Mario Party, and Mario Kart. We use a behavior chart at home, where the boys clip up and down as punishment or reward for how they are acting and treating others. They can only have the Switch and iPad if they're at the top. If they're in the 4 slots below that, they can have TV but no Switch or iPad. If they're below that (there are about 20 slots), they can't have any type of screen. We've tried to help them be at the top for most of the summer since Adam and I are working so much. :)

And now for the birthday video!

Sutton is 10!

Sutton turned 10 on June 24th. A whole decade old! That seriously blows my mind.

We decided this year to do his photos with all the things that he loves: his hoverboard, his pets, his Nintendo Switch, and his go kart. And his brother. The only "loves" of his that we didn't showcase are his friends and swimming!

His hoverboard was a gift for his birthday and at first he was wobbly, but he is extremely proficient at it now. Adam got him one that can be "off-road" so he can drive it around in our yard. Which is nice since we have no concrete or pavement at our house, and our road is 55mph!

I seriously LOVE this photo of him:

We love having this big field next to our house! When it's not planted, the boys will drive their go karts around there. With the overcast skies the night we took these, the green field made for the perfect spot for a few photos.

Sutton is an animal lover to the max, and that makes me so happy! He wanted to do photos with most of our pets. On the left we have Ever, who he was obsessed with when she first showed up at our house. However, she is cranky and doesn't like to be petted even though she is obsessed with always being near us. She is the momma to Luna and Maple (who died), Tally (who disappeared) and Kyle and MJ.

Luna, the black kitty, is Sutton's current favorite. When we allowed her in the house, she would curl up with him in the basement for hours while he played Minecraft. Even now, any time she sees us, she purrs up a storm and won't let us walk without stepping on her. She doesn't bite or scratch, she really is the best kitty! Funny story - she had had a litter of her own when we took these photos, but we didn't know it! She's the momma to Padme and Nova (who I haven't introduced on here yet).

MJ is the baby clear on the right. He is the second favorite. He is super sweet and chill, but sometimes doesn't let us pick him up. He's definitely our favorite out of Ever's last litter and such a beautiful cat!

Not pictured are Sammie, Kyle, and babies Padme and Nova who we didn't know about at this point!

Riddick is currently our only indoor pet. He's SUCH a good dog and Sutton loves him - just in a different way than the cats.

These brothers. At school, Ren gets called Mini Sutton or Sutton Jr. Ren also told me yesterday that he wants to be like Sutton when he grows up. Mostly so he can swim in the deep end of the pool, but I think in most aspects. Ren looks up to Sutton so much! They have their fair share of fights but I just think they are the best of friends and I'm so grateful for their relationship.

Since the pandemic, these two literally spend ALL of their time together. They sleep in the same bed at night, they play Minecraft together for a lot of the day (video games are raising my children since I have no daycare and work is CRAZY), they swim together out in our stock tank pool - spending HOURS out there making up games and building submarines out of Legos.

I told Ren to go throw on some nice shorts with the tshirt he was wearing, but instead, he completely changed his outfit to this and was very proud of himself for putting this together. Gym shorts with a white tee and button-down. Can't go wrong. Lol. And note the matching shoes!

One new thing I've noticed about Sutton is how sentimental he is. He has a paper hanging on his bedroom wall that has "Year 2018, Year 2019, Year 2020" written on it. He says he's going to keep the paper and write every year on it during that year. Another example is this stick he's holding in these next photos. He found it when we were camping with friends over Spring Break and brought it home. He never uses it, but stowed it away on our back deck. He recently noticed that it was broken and it was a huge deal, complete with sobbing tears. Daddy fixed it for him and painted it, unfortunately it broke again.

Had to post this picture of Daddy with Luna:

We took a few more brother pictures because I could tell Ren was wishing he could be in more. They are so goofy.

Things have been weird with the pandemic, but Sutton has been resilient. He loves school and loves his friends, but he has been doing so well with not having those things. Maybe even his deeply buried introvert side is coming out. There were a few times during quarantine where I said we had to get in the car to do grocery pickup or something, and he was like "I just want to stay home!" That sentiment has come up pretty often lately. I guess he's happy to stay home and play with Ren!

Sutton has many sides. He can be sneaky to try to get away with things, but I can always tell when he's lying. He is extremely caring and loving. He randomly says "Mommy? I love you" and I expect him to want something, but he doesn't. He has a very tender heart - at his birthday party, he accidentally kicked one of his friends in the face and he cried way more than the kid who got hurt because he felt so bad. He's quick to love, quick to show emotion, quick to shed tears.

He's been very into reading, which has been awesome! I just finished reading him the whole Harry Potter series and he has started over again reading them himself. He's currently halfway through the second book. He has a few new books to try once he finishes that series, which he's excited about. His favorite subject in school was math. He was doing fractions and finding the area of rectangles in math, which is crazy!

We've kind of settled into a new routine with pandemic + summer break. The boys get up around 8ish, and they are on their own which is nice because it means I can sleep in! I'm so happy to be out of the baby stage because sleeping in is just amazing. They play Minecraft most of the morning while I work. In the afternoons, we clean the house, they play out in the little pool, or sometimes we watch movies while I work on the couch. On the evenings I shoot, they hang with Daddy. When I'm home, we usually do dinner and lots of outside time once it's not as hot. They go to bed around 8 or 8:30 and I think they stay awake in their room for an hour or two playing legos, reading, or who knows what. We'll have to squash that staying up once school starts!

We did our traditional birthday video that I will share in the next post and he covers a lot of 'favorites' in that, so I will leave these few photos here and finish up the birthday post in Part 2!