I don't even know how to begin to describe Sutton at 8! He is not your typical crazy, dirty, rough boy. Though he has his moments. He is thoughtful, considerate, affectionate, and creative. He is definitely a rule-follower - which you think would be a good thing (and often is!) but it's something that clashes a LOT with Adam and I's more laid back "go with the flow" personalities. Things have to be a certain way and if it changes from how he believes it should be, there will be tears!
Sutton finished 1st grade at Maize this year and made a lot of friends. We talked a lot about the kids in his class, and it really did seem like he was friends with everyone. His favorite friend was Luke, and his crush was Kinley. Her mom taught at the school, so he would hold her hand and walk her to her mom's classroom every day after school. Here's the pic that her mom finally caught of them and sent to me:
Sutton loves Jesus with all his heart. He tells me what he prays for at night and is always talking about God. I'm so happy that this is so important to him. He has set a good example even for me to keep Jesus in the forefront of my thoughts all the time.
Things Sutton loves: the color black, long sleeve shirts, swimming (he's so good at it!), climbing (trees, rocks, playgrounds), family nights, playing games, Minecraft, his ipad, having Mommy time, his friends, laser tag, milk chocolate, pepperoni pizza, mac n cheese, riding his 4-wheeler, his pets Riddick and Sammie, going to school, building things with his hot glue gun and random trash or popsicle sticks, over-explaining his creations to me (maybe he'll be an engineer), and movies.
Last week, we moved the boys into one room so they share a room now. They had been asking to do this for quite a while, and we had been letting Sutton sleep on a mattress on Ren's floor for about a month. They love sharing a room, and it's actually really nice for me and Adam too. When they wake up in the morning, they get up at the same time and Sutton helps Ren with whatever he needs, so Adam and I can sleep in a little. We have arrived!
Sutton is very kind to his brother (in the BIG picture...but they fight a LOT), and tries to play with him all the time. I say "tries" because sometimes it's successful, but sometimes Ren doesn't follow Sutton's rules and then...see above. They are the best of friends and they fight like nobody's business. Ren always wants to do what Sutton is doing and copies him all the time.
This past Saturday, we had a birthday party. We rented out the Sedgwick Pool after hours and invited Sutton's best bunch of people to come swim, have hot dogs + ice cream cake, and hang out. It was such a fun party and flew by so quickly! Sutton had a blast. We had always had his birthday parties out at our house before since we have so much land and can host a lot of people. He was apprehensive about doing something different, but he thanked us for making him have it at the pool this year. I made everyone take a group picture (of course).
I took a BUNCH of diving board photos...
Yeah, baby!!! Ha!
I didn't get a photo of the cake before it got cut, but Sutton requested a Star Wars cake, specifically Obi Wan Kenobi. Luckily, Dairy Queen can deliver.
Photos with the grandparents! Here he is with Papa Bruce and Grandma Nancy.
And with Papa Ed and Grandma Janet.
And our family of course. These people all love me for making them take so many photos all the time.
And here is his 8th birthday video that we took today:
After we took the video, he asked to do one with Ren. Here's how that went (I told them we're gonna show this at their weddings):
