Happy 9th Birthday Quinn!

Nielsen's Frozen Custard shop

It's been a good week around here for our birthday boy Quinn.  Each Monday, Quinn and I pick up Elsie from the middle school because she has gymnastics and wouldn't make it on time if she rode the bus home.  We usually have a few extra minutes in town for a quick errand but this time the kids had a few coupons they wanted to redeem.

Quinn & Aiden 'running a booth'

The much-anticipated circus themed Pack Night was an all-out party complete corndogs, popcorn, cotton candy, face-painting, fishing pond, cakewalk, and other games galore.  Families were invited and I heard a few kids say this was the best night of their lives:).

Jane S. - Cubmaster/ringleader

Quinn & Jane

Quinn was so focused on playing this game that he hardly noticed the Ringleader come up beside him and pose with bunny ears for me.  I knew he didn't want his picture taken so this made me chuckle.

Posing after Pack Night

Quinn received his Wolf Award and is advancing to the Bear Den this week.

Quinn & Aaron - heading to breakfast

Saturday was action-packed for the entire family - with lots of comings and goings.  Jantzen had an overnight hike/camp-out, Brinley was up to her 'eyeballs' in Project Citizen (a graduation requirement), Anna spent the day with me in IF at a track meet invitational, Elsie declined the neighbor's poetry party to join Quinn and his friends for a 'birthday activity' (as it's not a friend party year), etc.  Sure was nice to have Aaron back in town since we had a lot of divide and conquer to coordinate.

Birthday breakfast choice - Winger's has expanded their menu.

After breakfast, Aaron took Quinn to his baseball practice then cruised home before a few of his buddies arrived.  Quinn thought it would be fun to have the boys jump at Gravity Factory, get pizza then play for a bit at our house.  With a Sunday birthday this year, he wanted to make sure he celebrated so he planned things out earlier in the week:).

Dawson, Cooper, Dallin, Quinn 

Playing at Gravity Factory

Anna 3rd in 1600m - 6:02

Meanwhile, Anna was tearing it up again out on the track.  The weather was much improved over last weekend and new records were being set all day from the various middle school athletes.  I was blown away by the times these 7th and 8th graders were running!  There was plenty of competition with three heats of the 800m, but Anna blazed to pick up a 2nd place finish 7-seconds behind the fastest 8th-grade girl in the state of Idaho - wearing purple jersey.  Pretty amazing for a newbie to this sport.  Great job Anna!

Anna 2nd in 800m - 2:40

Sunday morning - Quinn's official birthday began with opening his biggest present of the day.  After church, he had to wait until Aaron finished with meetings to open the others.  Per Quinn's request, we hosted Sunday dinner with family in town and the cousins gave him a few small gifts also.  He was a very happy boy.  The birthday menu included hamburgers, tater tots and watermelon.  We added a few salads then served brownies and cookies & cream ice cream for dessert.  Quinn reported that it was a fantastic birthday and he enjoyed being able to FaceTime with both sets of missionary grandparents.

Jagger & Quinn laughing after Chris threw in a 'dirty diaper' surprise.

It only took him the afternoon to put together this intricate Star Wars LEGO set.  I've heard him talk about wanting to be an engineer when he gets older.  Perhaps that could be a very good fit for him.  We love Quinn so much and are so happy he joined our family 9 years ago!  Happy Birthday Buddy!