Happy 11th Birthday, Caspian!

Dear Caspian,

Today you turn 11 years old. My how the time flies when you’re having fun! Happy Birthday buddy!! Here are some things I’d like to remember about you when you turned 11 years old and some things you might like to know about your 11 year old self.

You love sports. You love watching sports and playing sports. You know more about sports than anyone in this family!
You still play travel soccer and really love all your teammates.
You started cross country last week are are loving it! You ran your first race and the coach was very impressed. I haven’t seen you this excited about something in a long time!
Our school moved 5th grade into the jr. high this year, so you are officially in jr. high!
You are super smart. You are in accelerated language arts and math.
Though you are smart, you are still a bit lazy. Sometimes it’s hard to motivate you to do something when you feel challenged.
You have lots of friends! You love hanging out with your buddies…..some of your best buds are Easton, Otto, Kellen.
For your birthday this year, you’ve chosen not to have a party but are going to a water park with Daddy. I think Daddy was very honored that you chose to spend your birthday celebrating with him.
You love video games and computer games. Often you can be found in the basement on Switch with your friends or on the computer in my office watching some silly youtube.
For your birthday this year you got an Apple watch, a Chicago Fire shirt and hat, a robot to detect if your sisters enter your room, the shut the box game, a soccer jersey, video gaming shirts, a stuffed animal, and several other things. We are hoping the Apple watch will help you track your runs.
I think you are officially finished playing with all your Hot Wheels cars. When we were cleaning out your room recently, you were ready to get rid of them (insert sad face), but I’m definitely saving those cars. They were your favorite thing since you were two years old!
We are slowly redecorating your room now from the nautical theme that you’ve had since you were a baby to a more mature video game themed room.
You like to sleep with your big fan on, your rainbow led lights on, curtains closed, closet door closed and bedroom door closed. Funny how each of you kids like to sleep a different way.
You still love to give me hugs, even in front of your friends. I love that…….I hope it doesn’t end, but I fear it will. But for now I enjoy how much you love your Mama. You also still twirl my hair when you hug me, like you did when I would rock you to sleep as a baby.
Each day your chore is to feed the dog. You don’t always think it’s fair that you have to do it, but it’s good for you to be responsible for something each day.
You are really into the clothes that you wear. You got some fancy Nike clothes that have a symbol similar to Louis Vuitton and you call it your Nike Vuitton. You feel very fancy in these new clothes!
Your favorite foods right now are cheeseburgers, tacos, tamales, taquitos, cheese tortellini, brie cheese and any type of sweet. You are slowly trying more foods which is great!
You loved our family trip with Gigi and Grumpy to Michigan this summer and your visit to Grandma Jane and Pepo’s house in Texas. You enjoyed swimming, golfing, driving the golf cart, playing mini-golf, going to Main Event, driving go-karts and eating lots of ice cream!
You still sleep with your stuffed animals. You like your three goats from Door County – Snowflake, Snowball and Cookie Dough. You got a new stuffed animal that Aunt Abby, Bryan and Izzy got for you in Michigan….I think you named it Ziger (since it looks like a zebra and a tiger).
You love to watch anime shows on TV. I’m not sure how you got into those but you absolutely love them!

Caspian Finn, I say this every year, but I cannot imagine our world with you in it! Being the mom of a boy has shown me so many different perspectives on things and taught me about so many things that I would have never been introduced to if I had just had your sisters. You bring an energy to our family that is so much fun. You are always dancing, moving and being silly. I’m so grateful that you are my son and I hope you have the best day EVER!