On Aug 15th, D.J. Turned 9!

My kids are getting older. No really, THEY ARE GETTING OLDER!  This is not like birthdays in toddler years where you just think it's cute they are getting older, because now they are ACTING older, complete with sarcasm and eye-rolling.  It just seems we are definitely past the toddler stage of life and into a graduated potty humor and punch-line joke stage.  We are having fun with this and will enjoy it as long as we can before the eye-rolling and sarcasm reaches levels of insanity.

D.J. finished reading Harry Potter #7 right before his birthday so he could see Part 2 of that book while still in the theaters.  He was so excited to do this right on his birthday and worked extra hard to finish the book. This was a very fun experience to take Spencer and D.J. to a "late" (8 p.m.) movie. They loved it and talked about the differences in the movie and the book together throughout the movie. Being in the Harry Potter mode, D.J. requested a Harry Potter cake, a scene from book #4 where Harry is dueling Voldemort in a graveyard.

This shirt that Grandma Wheeler gave him sums up D.J.'s personality well.  It is a Wimpy Kid shirt that says "I'm pretty much one of the best people I know."

D.J. got many presents he liked, but this is one of the best: a gerbil.  Granna gave him the aquarium and accessories and took him to a pet store to pick out his own gerbil.  I finally thought getting him a pet would be a good idea, because I just couldn't handle him calling the potato bugs under the front yard rocks his pets anymore.  The kid needs a more interactive pet (I'm just not up to a dog yet).  He wanted to name her Bellatrix (the second to most evil character in Harry Potter), but I persuaded him to try a nicer namesake, so he went with Lily Chompers Lestrange, which is a compromise (Lily is nice, chompers is animal-like and Lestrange is evil Bellatrix's last name).  She has finally gotten used to D.J. and will let him hold her without wiggling out of his hands.  I, however, have not gotten used to hearing little noises in the house and still freeze when I hear them, thinking I will have to deal with a violent intruder.

He really has fun watching and caring for her, as we all do!

Happy Birthday D.J.!