Joe is 9 Years Old!!!

My oldest little buddy has turned 9 today. I can not believe how much this past year has changed him! I came across photos of his 8th birthday party earlier today, and put a "side by side" from this year together:

Jojo with his 8yr cake and his 9year cake!

Last year, he was 68 pounds and 50 inches. This year, he is 94 pounds and 53.25 inches.

This year he has decided not have a birthday party. He'd rather have one friends come spend the night and go bowling with him... so, that is what we are doing. Tomorrow night, his friend Armando will be spending the night (It's Armando's very first sleep over, his mom and I are hoping we wont have a 1am phone call to go home! lol).... BUT, Joe said he wanted to have a little family dinner, "So he can still have a cake from Aunti Christina!" ha ha... and that we did.

Here are some photos from Joe's amazing 9 year cake. This year, Christina and I came up with a plan to "trick" Joe... He had requested a crazy difficult cake... a zombie, standing up. He always challenges Christina with the creations he comes up with to request in cake form.  This year, Christina made a "Gag cake"... A smaller cake with a zombie just drawn on in frosting. She called my phone and left a message that Joe would, "Accidentally hear" saying that she was not able to make the standing zombie, and she felt so bad, and she hoped Joe would understand and not have hurt feelings when she brings it... When Joe "accidentally" heard the message I "Accidentally played" while he was near me (and knew he'd listen in when he heard his name! lol).... His response was one of the sweetest things EVER. Christina and I were concerned he might cry... but, he said, "Ok, that is ok, it will still taste great!" Awwww, my sweet boy.

So, day of his party, the Danners arrive. Christina gets out of their car holding the much smaller cake...

Joe, as you can see, was still very happy to receive an Aunti Christina cake, and told her he liked the tie!  She asked him if he would hold it for a second because she forgot something in the car. Someone else held it for him after a minute and then he saw what was coming: 

His face tells the story of the awesomeness to come....

Yes, that is CAKE! (I "doctored" that last photo just for fun)... That is an almost 3 foot tall CAKE! Joe looked back at us all with excitement and a look of, "ARE YOU SEEING THIS?"

We brought the cake in, where he continued to adore it, play with it, and eventually cut into it's head to eat it all up! :) 

This year... Aunti Christina outdid herself in a big way... I'm not sure what to expect next year, since Joe tries to make it a little more challenging every time! 

Happy Birthday to my handsome, funny, brace wearing, long hair wanting, blue eyed baby boy!! I love you!