Modern Day Mama: Wonderful in Every Way at 11

Yesterday was our Mazy Man's 11th birthday. 11! It's exciting and a little sad to watch him grow up each year. Wasn't it just a few years ago when he was asking for dinosaurs and Hotwheels. Of course, he's still asking for Legos and light sabers, so I guess he's not THAT grown up yet. :)

I took yesterday afternoon off so I could take Mazy out for lunch. He asked that Bo join us, which I thought was super nice. He picked Jethro's BBQ and Bacon Bacon. We've been wanting to go there for a long time. And to top it off, cousin Cody and uncle Dave were in town from Mississippi. I haven't seen Cody for a couple years so it was so fun to spend a long lunch with him and Dave.

After lunch, Mazy asked to go to Barnes and Noble, where he and Bo were allowed to pick out one book each. We also had a coupon for a free birthday cupcake for Mazy. Then, we went to Nobbies to buy some treat bags and prizes for the cousin bowling party on Saturday.

It was a great afternoon. It makes my heart happy when the boys request to spend time with each other and share special occasions with each other. Violet wasn't invited... :) She's kind of a pain right now, so rather than ruin everyone's time, I'll take an afternoon off and do things with just her.

We finished off the birthday celebration with a taco dinner at home (birthday boy's choice), an Oreo ice cream cake for dessert and then the opening of the presents. He loved his gifts -- Terminator Mega Blok sets, books and a Storm Trooper guy from Bo and a Star Wars storage box from Violet.

Here are a few pics from the 24 hours of birthday fun, beginning with his birthday eve when he was able to open his presents from Violet and Bo.

Then he woke up on his birthday to decorations all over the downstairs.

Then he was able to skip the afternoon at school to go out for lunch with family at Jethro's, where cousin Cody ordered the biggest tenderloin I have ever seen!: