Samuel is 7!

I can't believe that 7 years ago I was a mother for the first time! I am so thankful to have Samuel as the oldest child in our home. He is such a good example to the rest of the family. He is very kind and considerate of others, especially when someone gets hurt. He's responsible, respectful and safe. At school he is a self-manager, which means he gets special privileges. He has been a more faithful reader than I have been to reach his goal of reading the Book of Mormon. There are many nights that I think it is too late to read, but he is willing to stay up a little longer. We are almost done with 2nd Nephi and his reading is already getting much faster. I'm always amazed at some of the words that he can read or sound out all on his own.
We had a fun birthday. Yesterday we made a cake and took it to Tricia's house for a mini b-day party. Tricia watched our kids while Aaron and I went to the temple. When we got back we visited until Calista, Ellen and Caleb got up from their naps. (Tricia was so nice to put them down for a nap!) Then we ate cake and the kids got to play a little longer with their cousins. They must've played hard because both Samuel and Jacque fell asleep shortly after starting our drive home and they were still tired enough to go to bed at bedtime!

Mom gave me a cupcake decorating book last year where we saw a cute alligator. Samuel decided he wanted a cake and not cupcakes, which sounded easier to me, and we followed the decorating instructions. It was fun to make and yummy to eat.

Growing up we always had the "spanking machine." Whoever had the birthday had to crawl through everyone's legs while they were spanked (lightly of course). You had to go through the tunnel the same amount of times as your age, so Samuel had to go through 7 times. He was a good sport. It was fun to have Grandma and Grandpa Baxter here!
For his birthday, we got Samuel an alligator so he would be able to remember his cake, a pair of pants (not pictured) because all of his other pants have holes in them, a transformer carrier airplane - which came with a small transformer truck which fits in the cargo bay, and a toy pirate pistol. I think he enjoyed them all.