Birthday Bash ~ Back to the Blog!

After a LONG hiatus from the blog, I have humbly come home. There are hundreds of pictures and many events to share, but I will start with a wonderful birthday wish to my 7 year old guy!!

Brady's 7th birthday once again fell on Labor Day weekend, enabling us to celebrate with all sorts of fun activities!! Friday we headed to the Atlanta Zoo to see the baby giraffe (6' tall when born!), the new Malaysian Bear and of course the "WORLD OF REPTILES"!!! And no trip to the zoo would be complete without a train ride and some rock climbing!

Saturday morning we laced up our tennies and went running to the US 10k Classic for the boys to compete in the annual 1/2K race! Racing in different age groups, Mommy ran with Parker and Daddy ran with Brady.

While it might have been Brady's big day, Parker placed 5th in boys in his age group and brought home a real race medal!

And to top it all off, Grandy came to cheer us on!

After refreshing with some Gatorade and a Popsicle, it was time to change out of race gear and into our navy and gold!

Thanks to Aunt Kathy and Uncle Steve, we were able to celebrate Brady's birthday at the GA Tech Opening Day Game against SC State... and did I mention we whooped 'em? :-)

After the game Nana and Grandy came over for a drink and some gift-giving - and much to Brady's delight he received the forever-coveted Nintendo DS! While Mommy has said 'no' to this moment for several years, Daddy (and Brady) finally convinced me that my baby was no longer a baby. He was a very psyched kid!

For Brady's special birthday dinner we surprised him with a visit to The Burger Club, a yummy new-to-us restaurant in Vinings that serves fantastic burgers, sandwiches, fries ... and beer and wine (I called to make sure!) Among the 6 of us I'm sure we ate thousands of calories and hundreds of grams of fat ... but it was worth every greasy bite!

And then - just to make sure we can no longer wear our skinny jeans - we headed back home for a little cake and some singing!

Labor Day will find us at Six Flags Whitewater Park, where we will enjoy a day of water slides, wave pools and a final summer hurrah!

Looking at my big guy I find it hard to believe that he is really seven years old - something about 'seven' sounds so old to me! His body has lost that 'little boy' shape. His face and eyes are that of a true 'big kid.' His academic abilities have exploded. His reasoning, understanding, empathy and other fabulous social characteristics are clearly maturing and developing.

My mother has always said that "a loved child has many names." Well, Brady sure fits the bill! 'Niblet' before he was born. 'Squiggle' as a little kid. 'Squirt' as an older kid. And I can only imagine what the nickname will be in another few years!

He is an amazing kid - who brings so much joy and goofiness and laughter and cheer to our world. Bill and I are thankful every day for him .. and especially thankful for his miraculous life every September 4th!