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If any of my boys are a mini Aaron it has to be Harri. All of the boys are like Aaron in some way, but I think Harri is probably the most like him.  He's sports crazy like him, and he also gets very excited about his birthday which Aaron also did. It cracked me up as I had never seen an adult get excited about their birthday before, but Aaron always knew what he wanted for his birthday and Harri has been telling me for months what presents he would like to get. 

It's hard to believe that this tiny boy is now causing me grief with all the things that come along with being a tween. He can be such a lovely boy and is so fun to be around and can be so polite and happy, and then there's times when I want to strangle him and his attitude.  In other words he's just a normal kid, but I think we were so lucky with Jay that it's a shock when he doesn't act the same that Jay did at the same age.  I've really wished that Aaron was around this year as I've had to deal with different things with the boys.  Being a single Mum is hard in so many ways.

The thing that Harri wanted most for his birthday was a Fitbit.  He loves running in the Parkrun (when it's not soccer season) and really wanted to be able to time himself.  He also got a new basketball which he had wanted for a while and some other little things he had wanted. 

He had a great time at school seeing how many steps he had taken on his Fitbit.  It was lucky that I only worked a half day on his birthday, so I picked him up after lunch and asked him to choose something that he wanted to do together. He decided to go to 1 2 3 Yo (frozen yoghurt).

 

 After school Aaron's Dad and Step Mum Carrol came to visit.

 He then got to choose where we went for tea and he chose the old favourite - Hogs Breath.

I wasn't planning on having a party this year as he had one with his friends last year and the year before but somehow he talked me into it again this year! He kept saying how he really wanted to have a party with his friends as they're all in grade 6 and next year they won't all be going to the same school together.  The funny thing was that Harri makes friends so easily and has lots of friends that go to different schools as he gets to know them through soccer and basketball, so he ended up inviting boys who go to four different schools in the end! It's nice that he has different friends and they all knew each other through sport as well.

He decided he wanted to go to Airtime again and I was happy with that as it's easy enough as the boys keep themselves occupied and I just have to provide the food. 

They're all lovely boys, but let's just say that I'd much prefer to have an 8 year old birthday party any day! They were very loud (sorry to the people having a party next to us!) and there was lots of competing to see who was the loudest, funniest or coolest.  It reminded me why I chose to teach Early Childhood rather than Primary children at school :)

Thank goodness for the amazing Cupcake Fairy who is so generous and kind and offered to make Harri a cake again this year. He loved it.

Another birthday down...until the next one in just over a week.