I can't have a 7 year old already!

On February 27th we celebrated Jace's 7th birthday! I cannot believe he is 7! For his birthday we had an army party...we filled 200 grenade water balloons and hid them all over the park. We gave them arm bands to split into 2 teams and they all searched for the grennades, when they were all found the teams had a grennade war that was too fun. Then, they played capture the flag, football, ate brownies, opened presents and played at the park. It was fun, wild, cheap and easy...just the way I (and they) like it.

Jace has grown up so much this year. Here are my 7 favorite things about him:

1. He is a GREAT big brother. It never even crosses his mind to exclude Parker or James...they are all just best buddies and share everything. I'm often pleasantly shocked at how unselfish and kind they are to each other.

2. He does his homework everyday fast and willingly. He starts it in the car ride home and finishes once he gets here. He does nothing before it's done, and even if a friend comes over right after school, he'll finish his homework first.

3. He is super smart, reads extremely well and loves to learn. He constantly amazes me with the knowlege he retains.

4. He loves making friends. Anywhere we go, he has a new friend and is completely confident when talking to new people. On our plane ride home from Utah, he sat next to a 13 year old girl and talked to her the entire time about her trip to Utah (It cracked us up, and I'm sure she was dying to listen to her iPod!)

5. He REALLY wants to do the right thing. He is constantly learning about the gospel and internalizing it. He reads the Book of Mormon each night, so he can finish the entire book before his baptism...amazing. I often think he is better at the scriptures than I am.

6. He is so active. He is a great athlete, but more than anything, he just loves playing outside or with a ball...he'll play with anyone and everyone and play for as long as we'll let him. He literally dribbles a basketball for hours every day.

7. He loves me and Mike! He is affectionate and kind and sweet. He always lets us know how much he loves us and how much we mean to him. He loves spending time together and doing fun things as a family. He's just an all around great kid and I'm so grateful he is our oldest.

He said the funniest thing when I asked him what he liked best about his birthday party. He said, "You know, it really isn't about the presents or about what I got, I was just really happy that all my friends came and made my day so special. You know mom, people are more important than presents." I was dying...I think he was trying his hardest to convince himself of that fact!