A Perfect *10*

My eldest born in the wilderness...actually he was born at LDS hospital... turned 10 this week.

I have been a parent for over a decade now, not possible.  

Having Zerin was like waking up.  

I feel like I began to understand who Heavenly Father intends me to someday be when he was born.  

There was so much I just didn't "get" until I had him, so much I couldn't have understood.

 I started making a list of all these many lessons, but as I was typing,

I realized I learned the vast majority of them via the Spirit, and those tend to get lost in translation.

I get frustrated with this sweet boy.  A lot.  Mostly because of my own inadequacies, but there is also something special about tweenagers that demands extra patience...back me up fellow mommies :)

I wanted to somehow express my love for him, but in a way he would get.

He'd thank me for a mushy card with all of my tender feelings exposed, but he wouldn't feel it.

So, I decided to express my love on his level.

I thought like a boy.

Some things I know he loves:  baseball, BYU, Jimmer, Albert Pujols, sports, food, surprises, friends, movies, books, history, and games.

For weeks I planned and plotted...I even shamefully told a few white lies.

The night before, I made his birthday cake, started his birthday dinner (ribs, rolls, baked potatoes and corn), and wrapped his birthday gifts.

The morning of his birthday, I was up at 5 am to make him Waffles, breakfast sausage and apple juice.

After getting all 6 kids ready to go out the door by 8am 

(because I have some wonderful friends who offered to help watch them for the day),

I started in on my plan.

One coat of paint later, it was time to take him his birthday lunch at the school (rootbeer, pizza and a cupcake), and to embarrass him in front of his class...good times :)

Somehow, by 5:30 when Bryan came home with him and all of the rest of the kids,

I finished the first of his 2 big surprises:

I had told Zerin for several weeks I was sorry but I just couldn't do a birthday party for him this year.  I had done one every year since he turned one, so he was really disappointed.  However, given my fragile and somewhat frenzied state, he knew I wasn't kidding.

But yes, he would get a party. :)  

Sidetracking for a moment, there is one thing about birthday parties I absolutely dread....leaving someone out.  Because of this, last year we had around 15 kids.  It was too much.  Especially for my little house.  Especially in the winter.  So, being a surprise party I made an executive decision to only invite 5 kids plus his siblings.  But I called the parents so the boys wouldn't know until after school, and I did it on a long weekend so they hopefully wouldn't make a big deal of it to other boys who may not have been invited.

I don't know if there's a better way, but I sure tried.

So the next evening (the day after his birthday), Bryan took him to run some errands, and meanwhile, the friends came.  I made his favorite little smokies wrapped in bacon, and we had meatballs, chips, soda and cupcakes...or as Aeden calls it, "BOY food!" :)

I didn't catch the exact moment that his friends surprised him when he walked through the door on camera, but it was precious...pure and total shock and surprise :)  I do have a horrible picture of the dog pile, but it's basically a big blur, so imagine.   He was so so surprised, and his friends were so cute with him.  Awesome moment :)

We opened gifts, played Just Dance 3, and then watched Captain America in 3D.  It was a high-energy, loud, wonderful night.

I'm not sure if at his age he connects, or will ever connect these birthday surprises to how I feel about him, but if he ever does, I hope he takes from it that even when I get impatient with his incredibly long and detailed stories, or frustrated with the million times I've asked him not to play football in the front room, or nearly cried over having to nag him 1000+ times in the morning to do his chores and get ready,

I hope he knows

I love and adore him way more than I've ever been frustrated.