Isn't it Great to be 8?

Dawson turned 8 yesterday. It is such a great birthday because now he gets to prepare for his baptism. He had a weekend full of parting. On Saturday we got up early and had a friend birthday party at the skating rink. Dawson has decided he LOVES roller skating. He had a great time and so did all his friends who showed up. I'm sure the kids would have loved to have skated longer if allowed too.
Saturday afternoon we went to Mary's to swim and hang out with family. My parents were in town as well as Crissy and her kids. She also brought up Lori's daughter, Iris, to spend the day with us. After swimming we had a yummy BBQ. Then lots and lots of presents. Dawson was sharing this party with his cousins, Natalie (9) and Cora (3) since their birthday's are all within 3 days of each other. After presents there was LOTS of cake. We had 3 cakes plus a pan of brownies. Every child deserves their own cake. Dawson stayed up late playing with his toys that night. He was up early Sunday playing as well. My parents got him roller skates for his birthday and he wore them ALL day-except at church although he wanted too.
Monday was Dawson's real birthday so we told him he could decide what we do all day. He decided to just lounge around in pajamas and play with his toys all morning. He got a lego table and a super fast remote control car that he was enjoying For lunch he wanted to go to Olive Garden-we were more than happy to take him. He had a great lunch. He got to order dessert and our waiter sang to him and gave him 3 mints (and a nickel) instead of 1 mint. It made his day! After lunch he wanted to go spend some of his birthday money at Target. He bought a couple more toys and came home to play with those. He then decided he wanted to go swim at Mary's. We swam for a bit and he played with Natalie and invited Natalie over for a bit. We then went to dinner to our favorite Mexican restaurant, Guadalajara, with Brad's parents and Dawson got sung to for a second time. He was glowing! After dinner we came home and he played some more, watched part of a movie, and enjoyed his birthday evening.
He had a great weekend and birthday.