Everett Turned 8

Everett had his eighth birthday in November.  He had been looking forward to this birthday for a long time.  

Joel and I made a deal with Everett back in July that if he read the entire Book of Mormon by the time he turned eight, we'd buy him his very own set of scriptures.  Everett was thrilled.  He and I read it together.  We didn't really dig into our reading until August.  We had to read multiple chapters a day in order to be on track to finish in time.  At one point, we had gone a few days without reading but a very timely facebook post from a friend of mine inspired me to keep at it with him.  We ended up reading 8-10 pages a day until two weeks before Everett's birthday, when we finished.

I was pleased that Everett really absorbed what we were reading.  He thought that the way the oldest son was valued back in scriptural times is definitely something we should continue with today in our family.  He loved the strategies of Captain Moroni and Teancum.  He was touched when we read about Jesus visiting the people.  He was disappointed when the Nephites, time after time, reverted back to wrongdoings despite knowing better.  

When we got to the final chapters, which talk about spiritual gifts, I asked Everett what he thought a spiritual gift he has was.  "I have the gift of knowledge," he said confidently.  Hah.  

And then, when we got to the famous "Moroni's promise" passage, he and I knelt down together while he said a sweet prayer to know if the Book of Mormon was true.  He didn't receive a huge, immediate answer, but Everett already knew the Book of Mormon was true.  He had already borne his testimony, to me and at church, of that fact.  Everett knew it was true because he felt peaceful and happy when he read the words.  

If I were to ask him again today, he'd say the same thing with equal conviction.  

Even though Everett really didn't need extra motivation to finish the Book of Mormon, Joel challenged him to a reading race two weeks before Everett finished.  The winner was to buy the loser a shake.  Everett was sure Joel didn't stand a chance because Joel was going from the beginning of the book.  But Joel read and read, and steadily caught up by the time Everett was finishing the last chapters.  Joel had a lot of fun going into Everett's room at night and saying, "I think I'd like a nice raspberry shake. . ."  And Everett had a lot of fun replying, "Well, just so you know, I'd like a nice raspberry coconut shake, and you have to buy it."

Everett, too competitive to ever consider losing a challenge, was thrilled to actually beat Joel.  He left Joel a special message to rub in his victory.

 

From Your Favorite son

I Beat ya with the Book of Mormon.  YOU OWE ME A SHAKE!  Wahahahaha

I think this challenge was one of Everett's favorite parts of his birthday this year.

Another favorite part was having a birthday party.  He invited some buddies from school and church.  We invited a few girls but only one showed up.

This was the first full-blown party I've thrown for one of my kids.  It was crazy.  All the activities I planned were over in about a tenth of the time I planned for, and I realized I was wrong when I thought that having an energetic eight year old gave me pretty realistic expectations.

The noise.  I can't even begin to describe the noise.  It was way beyond what I thought it would be.  I realized that Everett is not abnormally loud or active, after all.

It was a lego-themed party, so we decorated lego-themed shirts.  I painted little lego guys in advance and they got to personalize them.  I forgot to tell the parents that the shirts shouldn't go in the dryer, so I'm sure most of them were ruined after one washing.  

Finished shirts.

Cupcakes.  I dyed almond bark yellow and painstakingly filled lego guy shaped silicone molds.  No one liked the lego guys.  

I was smart enough to not make cupcakes from scratch, though.  This was good because barely any of the kids ate one.  

We also had a small family party.  Everett opened some fun presents and then got to dig into the cake he requested:  Vanilla cake with vanilla filling and raspberries and blackberries, frosted with vanilla frosting.

Everett makes our time together exciting.  He still loves to spend time with his family, especially one-on-one.  He has taken it upon himself to be William's private lego tutor.  He keeps Ashley company and he keeps James and Charlie safe.  

Everett loves any kind of game.  He anticipates winning and he hates losing but has generally learned to deal with it well.  He is very sensitive but loves with everything he's got.  Everett loves school and loves his classmates and really does his very best at everything (except with spelling and handwriting--I probably shouldn't complain).  One time Everett's friend referred to himself as a pencil monster at school, which Everett found very funny due to circumstances of the situation which I don't remember.  When Everett told me about this, I asked him what kind of monster he would be, and without missing a beat, he said, "I'm the kind monster."

Whether or not this is true 100% of the time, I am glad Everett wants it to be.  We are so blessed to have him in our family, and to have him lead out our little caravan of kids.