A Birthday Surprise

We celebrated Michael's 10th birthday this past weekend. It was a fun one...

We had a surprise for him. Though as a general rule we don't go crazy with birthday presents, a single gift wrapped and waiting in the morning seemed rather unusual. Olivia and Jacob told me later they felt a little badly for him when they saw him shake this light weight box first thing in the morning. Poor guy, they thought. It's bad enough that his birthday is in December; he's had some lame birthdays and this year his best buddy was unable to come due to an unexpected change of travel plans.

His little wrapped box contained only a note from me. I know-- a note from Mom is not typically what a ten year old boy hopes for! It was the first of several little notes with affirming words on the front and directions written inside.

He was instructed to get his shoes on, then to look in the closet where there was another gift.

Inside the second package was another note and a blindfold. 

Everyone followed as Jon led them around the yard, but the other kids were told not to say a thing about the surprise until Michael's blindfold was removed. I positioned myself in the garage as they circled the house. The excitement and suspense was so fun to watch as they rounded the corner...

I just love how Olivia and Jack are leading Michael! (And, ahem, excuse the mess of our garage!)

Priceless. He was literally speechless! Then his eyes became glassy. Then so did mine...

If you know Michael, or even if you only knew him as a toddler or a pre-schooler, you know that he is crazy about lizards. In fact, when he was little, he asked us to call him Lizard King. He would ask near strangers to call him Lizard King.

And though he is an expert catcher of wild lizards, he has always dreamed of having his own. Specifically, he has wanted Bearded Dragons. Yep, every mother's worst nightmare!

But because I love him (and because we have a large garage with space to keep them!) I finally gave in. I had no idea they were this big!!

Happy boy!

Meet Beauty and the Beast... Beauty is the yellow female, and Beast is the big guy.

I'm not really sure what we're getting into with this, but the vote of confidence this communicates to Michael is totally worth it. 

I've tried to understand his fascination with reptiles, but I simply cannot. The thing is, it's not about what I like and want. Jon and I feel it's important to find what our kids are passionate about and to let them be who they are... to let them thrive. We want to be facilitators as often as we can.

Michael is still in disbelief. And today as I walked out of the store with 50 crickets and a tub of worms, so was I. But I sit here tonight (er, I mean this morning... it's after mid-night already!) and I am so totally thrilled to make him this happy.

We love you tons, Michael!


~Katherine