being 9 years old

flashback to october 5th, 1999. after being in labor for over 3 weeks, and then enduring honest-to-goodness hard labor for over 10 hours, brandon peter finally gave me a break and made his debut in spital und pflegezentrum baar, in switzerland. it was the end of a long and sometimes crazy pregnancy, and the beginning of a whole new adventure for us. as brand-new parents, we had no idea what lay in store...

i must say, brandon has been a joy. he's taught me how to love unconditionally, how to take a deep breath when i need to, how to laugh out loud and be so proud i could cry a river. he's shown me that sometimes the little things do matter, that just a hug is sometimes all you need, that curiosity is a very good thing (even when you've already asked "why?" a zillion times already that day). he's been so much fun to watch and learn from, and i love him so so so much!

on to the less sappy stuff---

we celebrated twice- once with a bunch of his school buddies, and once at home as a family.

his friend party was held at the community rec center, where we had 12 sweaty boys playing kickball, dodgeball, flag tag and soccer.

brandon may be smaller than all of his buddies (see photo at left), but he certainly makes up for it with his speed and field sense. he's quite the little athlete, a fact that makes both his parents very proud!!

i think the boys all had a great time- after all, what could be better than just running and being loud and obnoxious when you're 9 years old?

great-grandma bullock is famous for giving $2 bills on birthdays, and everybody knows money is the best gift of all....just look at that smile!

mr. brandopolis,
you're a wonderful kid.