Damon's 10!

I'm so behind. Sheesh,when will life slow down so I can document how busy we are?

Damon turned 10 on July 2nd. I've been a mom now for a decade. 

He opted for a friend party this year, and we decided on Nickel City. He invited 7 friends and 3 cousins and only one boy couldn't make it. Tara was in town with her kids, so we also had 9 extra party-goers, which made for a very busy party (and one sad reason I don't have any pictures).

The kids played games with their nickels and one big game of laser tag before Tara and I took the little kids to the park for pizza. Damon and his friends stayed with Jeff for pizza and cake in the party room, and Jeff didn't take any pictures either. We probably need to hire a photographer for our next party, haha.

It was a lot of fun and WAY less stressful for me to have the party at Nickel City and I think all the boys had a great time, too. 

The next night, the rest of my family came up for the Fourth and we celebrated again. Damon shares his birthday with my cousin, Kevin, Jonny's birthday is July 3 and Kenya's is July 5, so we had a combined party for all of their birthdays (plus America's on the 4th: who would name their kid America? haha, inside joke).

Damon is a great kid. If you've been reading my blog for any amount of time, you probably have a good idea what he is like. But here are a few things I want to remember about Damon at 10 years old:

1. He just finished his second year of ALL (accelerated program at school) and is a good student. He's not the smartest in his class, but he works really hard and is responsible for doing his own homework and basically taking care of himself. He is finishing a summer program this week called Bright Ideas, which is sort of a fun summer school put on by the Gifted program, and comes home every day telling me how much he learned and how much he loves it. 

2. When he turned nine, my mom challenged him to read the Book of Mormon, and promised him $100 if he could do it before he turned 10. He read it in 9 months and made us all really proud. 

3. He plays soccer and will play on a competition team this fall. He also plays baseball, but the league is in is not challenging at all, and we'll probably have him try Little League next year to see what his skills actually are. 

4. He wanted "spy equipment" for his birthday and has been using it to spy on us. 

5. He loves the show The Great Escape on TNT, which is a reality show where three teams gather clues and try to escape from locations such as Alcatraz, a battleship, a missle silo, etc. He put together a Great Escape for his sisters and cousins, complete with clues, maps and patrol guards. He's the one everyone looks to for good ideas and fun.

6. He has been playing the piano for almost two years and is making slow progress. He is really good at sounding things out, which has hindered his ability to read music. But he's working on it and is getting better all the time.

7. His favorite TV shows are: Ninjago, Phineas and Ferb, Avatar the Last Airbender, Storage Wars, The Great Escape, Once Upon a Time and old Heman cartoons.

8. He is a bit obsessed with the quail. He rescued two babies from their families (one would have died, so that was fine, but the other he stole from the parents after he chased them off) and added them to the ones we hatched last week. 

9. He and I have been running in preparation for a 5K we are participating in this weekend, and it's been fun (and hard) running with him in the morning. He is doing well, but he complains a lot. We are constantly working on positive attitudes rather than negative, and we'll see how the race goes.

10. He is currently loving the 39 clues series of books, and is memorizing the states and capitals so he can get a jump start on fifth grade. He is such a good boy, with such a good heart, and I am so lucky to be his mom.