The Cutler Crew: We Have a 7-Year Old

Wow - doesn't 7-years old just seem so old? For some reason, it hit me harder this year that Preston is growing up so fast and just keeps inching his way to double digits! He has grown up so much this past year - he is such a loving, fun, outgoing and talented young man. We are so proud of him and had so much fun celebrating his 7th birthday! Thank you, Preston, for all the joy you have brought to our lives. You are loved so fully, unconditionally and without end.

So this was the year that we weren't going to have a "big party" for Preston, and we didn't... but we ended up somehow spreading the birthday festivities out for several days with several different celebrations? Hmmmm.... well, let the parties begin!

First, since Preston was three years old we have gone to the last Friday home game for the Frisco Roughriders. It always falls right around his birthday and is a blast with friends and fireworks! This year we were joined by the Sutherland and Thomas families - these two families are such great friends, they really are like family to us. Preston has grown up with all of these kids - thank you all so much for sharing your lives with us and being a huge part of ours!

So, a few days before the game I e-mailed to have Preston's name put on the jumbo-tron for the birthday announcements and they actually asked if Preston would want to be the Jr. Announcer for the evening? Well, heck yea! At first, he was nervous when I told him that he was going to be announcing a player in front of everyone... but he got over it and did a great job! And he had to introduce a very long name, I can't even remember what it was! But the game was actually televised that night, so we were able to record it and show him the next morning that he was on TV! He was so proud - hopefully a memory that he will cherish!

Okay, so another HIGHLIGHT of the night... Preston got to meet his very favorite player - Steve Murphy. Preston has really gotten into the Roughriders this year and he has been dying to meet Steve Murphy. So we tracked him down before the game and he got his autograph and a picture! Can you tell how star-struck he was... he talked about it for days! Thanks Roughriders for making this night extra special!

Here are some pics of the kids enjoying the game...

So these next pictures are of Preston's actual birthday! He and Erick woke up way too early! Erick and I affectionately say to eachother (they woke up at the butt-crack of dawn)... sorry, so politically in-correct! Ha! But Preston was so excited to go fishing on his birthday! And I think Erick was just as excited... seriously, Erick enjoys all of Preston's hobbies just as much as he does - it's great! These are memories to last a lifetime.... so here's Preston heading out to go fishing! They fished for like four hours and even ran into Preston's "BFF" at the fishing pond! So he got to fish with his buddy, Aiden, on his birthday! How great is that?!?

When they got home, Erick made him a special pancake breakfast and then it was present time!

Instead of the traditional wrapping, this year we sent Preston on a treasure hunt around the house for his presents! While they were fishing, I spent all morning drawing a map of our house and hiding all of his treasures. I had spent all Summer collecting tons of cars from the "Cars" movie, so I had lots of little things to hide - and, okay, one big thing....

First he had to find his treasure map... it was in "mom's favorite room" - the scrapbook room! Hee hee!

Then the hunt began - there were presents in the pantry, refrigerator, dryer, and even in the shower! It was a hoot!

And here's the big one... a Nintendo Wii - the whole family is enjoying this gift! "It's the gift that keeps on giving!" Movie line alert - who can name it?

Later that day, I took Preston to Wal-Mart to buy his first Wii game - a fishing game no doubt! Then we all went out to dinner at one of Preston's favorite restaurants - Macaroni Grill. But of course, our artist can draw on the tables there! So funny story - Preston told me the other day, "When I date girls, I am going to take them to Macaroni Grill." Okay, not ready for that! But that's nice that he'll take them somewhere other than Taco Bueno (his other favorite eatery)!

And the festivities ended the following weekend as we invited three of Preston's good friends from school over - Aiden, Trent and Mason. Can I tell you what a good group of boys we had at our house! I mean, they were just so good together - like four peas in a pod. And nothing but kindness out of all of them! Thank you boys for celebrating with us - we had a blast!

They enjoyed a water gun and water balloon fight outside - they were drenched!

And you guessed it - Erick was right in the middle of it all - like I said, he enjoys these things just as much as the kids!

Then we came in and enjoyed pizza, birthday cake and presents! These boys sitting around the table cracking each other up was quite the hilarious spectacle! Oh, the joy of boys - you moms know what I mean! Everything is funny - then add some bodily function humor and well, it's down right hysterical!

Then the boys headed upstairs. Preston enjoyed showing them his new game, they made this massive Star Wars scene with all the Star Wars toys and watched a movie in the media room! Two of the boys left in the LATE hours of the night (but they weren't tired you know, for the record!) Ha! And then we enjoyed having Mason spend the night. The loved sleeping in their sleeping bags in Preston's room.