Happy 9th Birthday, Xzayvier!

Nine. Wow. I mean, we're one year away from double digits. It feels like we just became parents. Not like we should have an almost ten-year-old, or two almost-ten-year-olds for that matter!

I could easily say that nothing has really changed in the past year for Xzayvier and EVERYTHING has changed and both would seem true. He's maturing more and more each day and he sure makes this momma proud on a pretty regular basis. He still looooves school. He's a great student and he works really hard on his school work. He's reader. Big time. The 3rd grade reading goal is 175 points (based on a point-tracking system) by the end of the year. At Christmas break, he had 450 points. He's an over-achiever. He wants to be the best. Sometimes to a fault, but mostly just because he wants to do his best. He's a hugger. If you know anything about "love languages", you know what I mean when I say that one of  Xzayvier's love languages is physical touch. His whole entire day can change with a hug or a high five. It's like an easy button. :) He's not an athelete. I don't know if that's a forever-thing, but we've tried a few different things and nothing has really hooked him and we're okay with that...and I think he is too. He's a great big brother. Any time he makes a not-so-great choice, he usually reminds himself that he needs to do better because Kreid wants to be like him. Often times I hear him helping Kreid or playing with him, even when most big brothers would be yelling "get out of my room!" He's just an all-around great boy! He really is. He's kind, he's sweet, he's helpful, he's smart, he's our boy. And HE'S NINE!

Xzayvier loves all things comic books and super heroes. He has always loved loved super heroes, but as he's gotten older one of his favorite things to do is read and write/draw comics. Because of his love for them, we decided to throw him a super hero/comic themed birthday party. We had a blast planning a special day to lavish our sweet boy and we had an even better time celebrating him with friends!

Zay with all of his birthday decor

Throwing a comic book themed birthday party is easy when you're married to a human fact book of all things comics. Rob was a huge help, as you'll see in the photos to come. He knows his comic books, so he had lots of great ideas and skill to put them together. We haven't taken a poll yet, but I'm guessing that since Zay smiled for about 15-hours straight, he enjoyed the party. :)

Cupcake-holder City Building

This was such a fun project! The kids and I used construction paper to make the city skyline in the back and Rob used boxes to create the city building, which also served as our cupcake holder. We printed a ton of old comic book covers and cut them to make these comic-themed pennants.

Pin the mask on the super hero

So, this might have been my favorite thing of the whole party. I LOVED the the cupcake table, but when you have a super-artistic, comic-geek husband that can draw some pretty awesome muscle-y comic book characters, you can end up with a lot of favorites!

I found these spider man flash cards and thought it would make for a great game.

Goodie-cups for everyone to take home

Everyone got to make their own super hero mask

The "Sound Effects Studio"

This was another fun idea. Rob was able to get a large role of bubble wrap from work, so much that we were able to roll it out in our garage, where the kids ran, rolled, and stomped out lots of bubbles. It made for LOTS of sound effects and fun.

I guess now I need to start planning for March. I doubt two months is enough time for Mekyla to forget that we threw a big bash for Zay's 9th birthday, so she'll likely be expecting the same. Wish me luck!