Bryce Turns 10

Last week Bryce hit double digits. Unfortunately, his birthday fell on a Monday, which is a totally unexciting day of the week. He tagged along while I taught co-op, but didn't have to do any school work or chores the entire day. For his birthday night dinner he chose chicken gnocchi soup, but he also got to choose the dinners for his entire birthday week and chose meals such as: tacos, bar pancakes, hamburgers, spaghetti and meatballs, and tortellini.

Bryce was super patient in waiting for Dad to get home so he could open his gifts. Thane insisted on buying him a present and used his last Father/Son outing to go shopping to buy just the right Lego set.

 

Bryce also got a Lego idea book, an annual birthday CD, and a new desk. He's been wanting a desk for a long time, and once it was in his room kept repeating, "Guess what? I have a DESK!"

 

The day before his birthday we had our family birthday celebration with the Harps. Instead of cake, he asked for pudding pie for dessert.

As a bonus, we got to have an online "Sue-bay Auction," where Aunt Sue showed the cousins the piles of gifts she has to bring them on her next visit.

Ten is a birthday year, and Bryce has been thinking about and planning his birthday celebrations for months. I am not quite as on top of things as he is, so I didn't finish finalizing the details of the party until the night before the event.

Bryce chose a Lego theme and was allowed to invite ten friends. He had a had time deciding which ten friends to invite. He really values his friendships.

We started the party with Lego themed games and challenges. First I had them try to build a tall tower, but each additional piece had to be bigger than the previous piece.

 

 Then I gave them themes of items to build with associated time limits (i.e. "Build an animal," or "Build a food"). They came up with some super clever and fun designs.

For the final challenge I randomly split them into groups of two, gave them a set of wheels and a balloon, and asked them to build a balloon powered car. Bryce was partnered with Charlotte. 

 

All the partnerships worked together impressively well, and after lots of design tweaks and adjustments, they all managed to create cars that could race.

The final race was exciting!

With the challenges successfully completed, we turned our attention to food. Bryce wanted au jus sandwiches for his birthday party dinner, but we made sure to offer regular sub sandwiches as well. We had lots of food and listening to a bunch of 9-11 year-olds chat was quite hilarious.

Part of the reason Bryce wanted a Lego party was because he figured if it was Lego themed he'd be more likely to get Legos as gifts. His strategy was sound; he did get tons of new Legos! Bryce was a little overwhelmed with the generosity of his friends.

 

After opening presents we quickly proceeded with cake and ice cream. Poor Bryce was stuck with a mama-made cake this year. After two years of having Katie make cakes, the discrepancy in quality was apparent. Thankfully the kids were gracious and complimented the cake on how well it tasted.

Thane found like-minded kids and they adventurously added potato chips to their ice cream. All three boys insisted it tasted great. I told them I'd have to take their word for it.

Phew! Throwing parties is exhausting, but Bryce loved it, so I guess it's all worth it. Bryce summarized his party by saying, "It was awesome! I loved having all my friends and all the attention."

I am glad Bryce is ten. At his core, he's kind-hearted, sensitive, happy, and capable. At his sports games, parents still regularly comment on how he's always smiling, even while running his hardest. He begs to help Nellie when she's having a hard time going to sleep and will patiently talk to her, tell her stories, and help her in any way. Insults or harshly spoken words cut deeply.

 

Sometimes though, he reminds me of the nursery rhyme about the girl with the curl on her forehead... "When she was good, she was very, very good, but when she was bad, she was horrid!"

As much as he prizes a peaceful home, he can also be quick to harass his siblings and seems to enjoy his ability to make them scream. He's still working to overcome the long-held baby talk habit. He's incredibly bright and clever, but isn't always consistent about getting his work done without argument. In other words, he's human.

 Bryce loves all things engineering, robotics, or design related. He has a natural curiosity about how things work and is willing to do the work to figure out the details. He also loves piano, especially when he can play fast!

What a blessing he is in our family!

An Interview with Bryce:

Favorite Color?: "Green."

Favorite Candy?:  "M&M's and Milky Way."

What do you want to be when you grow up?: "Animal Chiropractor.”

Where do you want to go on your mission?: "South Carolina because it seems like a good place to serve a mission."

Favorite Primary Song?: "'Army of Helaman'."

Favorite Animal?: "Wombat."

Favorite Movie?: "'Dolphin Tale' or 'Cars.'"

Favorite Thing to Do?: "Probably play Legos."

Favorite Food: "Pizza and tortellini."

Best Friends?: "Emerie and Asher."

Favorite Book?: "'The Candy Shop Wars' and the sequel, 'The Arcade Catastophe.'"

Favorite Toy?: "Legos."

What makes you happy?: "Having a peaceful home where everyone is being nice."

Favorite thing to do with Mom?: "Go out to eat."

Favorite thing to do with Dad?: "Read."

What do you do really well?: "Build Legos."

What makes you laugh?: "Somebody tickling me in the right spot."

What’s the best time of day?: "Probably afternoons because then I have most of my work done so I get to play Legos or other fun things."
What's your favorite day of the week?: "Friday because it's the day that I still have work, but not very much at all and I can always have free time. Usually there's not as much fighting."

What are you afraid of?: "Scorpions or any large snakes."

What do you like to do with your family?: "Play games."

What do you love to learn about?: "Science."

What is your favorite class/subject?: “Science.”

Where do you like to go?: "To the grocery store, to the beach, the Apple Store, anywhere fun.”

If you had one wish, what would it be?: "To have a wallet that never stopped having money in it."

What would you do if you had $1,000?: "Try to make my room super duper amazing. Buy more Legos."

What is your favorite song?: "'Life is a Highway.'"

What do you hope you can do before your next birthday?: "Get rid of all the junk from my room." 

What's your favorite Super Hero?: "I don't want to copy Thane, but Green Arrow probably is my favorite. And Batman."