Sam Turns Nine Tomorrow

Tomorrow my Samuel James will turn nine years old. This is one of my favorite baby pictures of him. Such a cute pic of brother and sister. And on the eve of his turning nine, he asked to go out on his bike to ride in the cul de sac with the other kids. I went upstairs to fold laundry and out my bedroom window I see a neighborhood kid put a bike ramp in the middle of the road. A moment later my son is riding the bike straight on the ramp. I silently scream and run downstairs to find a beaming Sam coming in, eager to tell me about his adventure. A quick dinner, and he's spraypainting his car that he sawed himself, putting on his handsome boy scout uniform with badges (ugh those things are hard to sew on!), and collecting his book filled with hard-earned achievements. As he runs out the door, he gives me a hug.
It's so much fun watching my boy turning into a man.

So on birthdays I give the children a choice to have a 'I'm too well to go too school day.' Sam took me up on it and stayed up way past normal reading in his room. I know because he came downstairs at 930 when I was trying to secretly work on a little surprise for him. Sam loves Mario and I found red and green baseball caps at the hobby store here for under a dollar. I had just finished cutting out the stick on foam and stick on felt when he walked in the living room.

Katarina joined in on the fun. Do they look different from that first picture or what?!?

He's modeling both trying to decide which one he wants to be for his birthday party-which he decided to have next week. This week is the Pinewood Derby after all.