Happy birthday, Rand!

Rand turned 8 yesterday!  He wanted to celebrate his birthday at Werner's school with all of his high school fans, so on Monday we made a cake and dropped in on rehearsal.  All of the students sang "Happy birthday" loudly and enthusiastically, and Rand basked in the attention.  For his actual birthday, he wanted his door decorated with Snickers and Milky Ways; the dollar bills were a surprise because he saw the "8" the night before.  We had chocolate chip waffles with whipped cream for breakfast and at school I went to his birthday celebration.  We had riding lessons and then to top off the day we went to Claim Jumper for dinner, followed by presents and a special video game time with Daddy.  

He declared all of his presents "awesome!" and "this is just what I wanted!" and his new snap circuit kit was "something that I have been wanting my whole life!"  He is such a sweet boy, and it is so fun to watch him growing up.  We love reading chapter books together every night.  He loves leading worship at Sunday School and is racing through his Awanas handbook.  He is doing a great job in chess club and eagerly recounts everything that he learned.  He is learning to type (slowly) and did his first big research project at school (on the country of Scotland).  He likes his hair long and loves learning facts about anything and everything -- the more unusual the better!  

(picture of Ella included because that girl never turns down a chance to have her picture taken.)

Heard Museum

We visited the Heard Museum on Free Museum Day -- Ella and I had never been there before, but Rand had been once on a field trip, so he showed us all of the best exhibits.  The Heard Museum specializes in American Indian art and history and had plenty of hands-on things to do for Rand and Ella.  Ella especially loved the pink tissue paper flower that Rand made her!