Brayden is 10!

We realized yesterday that if Brayden had been born two days earlier, he would've turned 10 on 10/10/10. So close...

I can't believe I'm old enough to have a ten year old. My, how time flies. It seems like just yesterday I was trying to stay awake at night to feed my new baby (actually, that did happen yesterday...but it was a different baby).

I used to feed Brayden in the livingroom at "the little house" and I would turn the radio on to help me stay awake. There was a song by Kenny Chesney that was really popular at that time, and it often played while I was feeding him. To this day, EVERY time I hear that song, it instantly takes me back to that time when I was a new mother, feeding my baby in the night. I'm adding it to the top of my playlist if you want to hear it, although the words have absolutely nothing to do with motherhood or a new baby.

It will always be one of my favorite songs, just because of the feelings and memories that I have when I hear it.

Brayden chose "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" for his birthday theme this year. I didn't get a very good picture of it, but I hung caramel popcorn balls (meatballs) and play food from the ceiling with fishing line so we could have food "raining" on us.

These spaghetti and meatball cupcakes were by far the easiest birthday cake I've ever made. I just used a frosting tip for the spaghetti, added some food coloring to our strawberry jam to make it look like sauce, and used Reese's Puffs cereal for the meatballs.

Then I rolled no-bake cookies into meatballs
And I made fried egg candy with pretzels, white chocolate chips, and M&M's.
For dinner we had a giant hamburger, and "Sunset Jell-O". Thanks Dad, for your help with the hamburger bun. It doesn't look that great, but it tasted good! (the first one I made looked better, but I cooked it a little too long). The Jell-O was supposed to be yellow. I bought three boxes of "island pineapple", but the recipe for Jiggler's called for four boxes, so I added a box of orange since the store was closed and that's all I had on hand.
Nate and Erin came IN COSTUME, which I absolutely loved. Erin wore an awesome unibrow to be Mr. Lockwood. Nate is Steve, the monkey thought translator. Jackie is Sam Sparks, the meteorologist, and Billy is none other than BABY BRENT (holding a can of sardines). Have I mentioned that I love having family here?
And here's the birthday boy hiding behind his loot. He got the Chronicles of Narnia, a Lego Hero Factory guy, a Diary of a Wimpy Kid book/journal, two hexbug nano's (so they can race), his new Webelos book and accessories, an official cub scout pocketknife, a Star Wars music CD, some money from Grandma Great, and some of those silly rubber bands that have taken over the world. He also got a new shirt, which isn't pictured.
Fun facts about Brayden:

-he loves to read

-he knows the scriptures stories better than his Mom. (The other day, Caleb asked me who Amlici was, and Brayden filled him in while I was trying to remember).

-his favorite school subject is Science

-his favorite color is yellow

-his favorite soda is Sprite

-his favorite ice cream is Vanilla

-he has slept with his favorite afghan since he was a baby, but ever since he left it at Grandma's house a few weeks ago, he has done just fine without it.

-he eats as much as his parents...sometimes more. I'm pretty sure if we let him, he'd be able to eat an entire box of cereal in two meals.

-he is growing WAY too fast.

We love you, Brayden!