When Did You Get to Be Eleven?

Andrew turned eleven on Sunday!  Since we knew we would be at the soccer fields all day, we celebrated a bit on Saturday too, starting with his choice of birthday dinner...Chinese! 

He's re-enacting eating dinner...we gobbled it up too fast to take a real photo.

With ice cream sundaes for dessert...

My favorite kids are the ones who don't make me bake a cake ;)

Declan loves sitting with Grandpa, where he learns new tricks like "dipping the pacifier in the melted ice cream, sucking it off, and repeating 5,732 times"

Then it was time for a present from Gammy and Grandpa...

Love the background of this shot - Eamon is tossing a football with a broken finger, and Declan is trying to reach anything up high and dangerous.  Life.

We moved into this house when Andrew was 3 months old, and I vividly remember him sleeping in the car seat as I set up the kitchen.  I can't believe he is sitting in the same kitchen all these years later.  Time seriously flies when the kids get to be school-aged.

He asked for a Bible, pinky swear.

We gave him one of his presents too, upon some insistence.  Who can say no to the birthday boy?  He got  the same Dad-made binder as Eamon did last week with football cards.

On Sunday morning, after Mass, we came home and made his favorite - pancakes with bacon, strawberries and whipped cream.  I added sprinkles into the whipped cream, and he thought he had died and gone to birthday breakfast heaven :)

Maggie quipped, "I didn't know you were only two!"

Time for more presents!  Andrew is such a ham with the camera, and always smiling or chuckling about something.  He got a palate expander back in the summer, and we watched his two front teeth separate as the roof of his mouth got wider, and then slowly work their way back together.  He smiled a little less during that time, but is all good now.  We find out next month if he needs braces or a retainer, and while Mom & Dad are praying for a retainer...Andrew thinks braces would be cool.

You don't have to have a soccer team surround you on your bday, but it sure is nice!

For his 11th birthday, Andrew asked for and received...

...a sports fact book...

...a soccer shirt...

...a camelback water bottle...

...and football gloves.

Notice the sports theme?  This kid is ALL about athletics.  He's a great soccer player and wants to go pro when he grows up.  I don't know about that, but he is pretty good about falling dramatically ;)

Nana and Gramps sent up an Under Armour shirt, which was a big hit.

He had a great weekend, except for the fact that his soccer team lost.  He served Mass twice, went to Confession and even started basketball practice this weekend (already?what?) so now he's currently playing three sports - soccer, basketball, and track.  And he wouldn't have it any other way.  Unless his mean mom let him play football, then he would definitely be playing football.   But I'm not changing my mean ways.

Andrew is my golden boy, not only because he tans well (as compared to the rest of my Irish-skinned bunch) but because everything just seems to come easy for him.  Making friends, getting the girl's attention, playing sports, having a strong moral compass, getting great grades in school - he just does it all with ease and a handsome grin.  I love watching him enjoy life and allowing us all to enjoy it right along side him.  Andrew - don't stop praying and playing so hard, and never stop giving us your sweet hugs, no matter how big you get.