Ethan's 10th Birthday

Ethan was able to have another fun birthday weekend.  The kids didn’t have school on Friday and we had cousins spending the weekend with us. Ethan is always excited to have more kids to play with and the kids all loved the multi-day cousin sleep over and had so much fun.  We went hiking and adventured around the town.  Friday we rode the bus to the dollar store for a budgeting activity as part of a Faith in God project Ethan was working on.  Then walked to the library to pick up books that were on hold for Ethan’s California Mission project.  That afternoon we hiked up to deer flats and went out to Cafe Rio for dinner.

Ethan ran a 5k the morning of his birthday with Gramma and Papa Finlay. Margaret signed him up on Wednesday so he hadn’t trained at all and hadn’t felt great the day before so wasn’t sure he could run that morning.  He enjoyed walking and talking with Gramma and Papa for the first little bit, but then his competitive side came out and he decided to run.  He took 5th in his age group and is sure he could win next year. 

The other kids and I joined at the finish line for “Ethan’s birthday party” in which there were all kinds of bounce houses that the kids were thrilled about and we told Ethan we had invited the whole city to his party.  He chose all the food for meals on Saturday, but we had his official family birthday dinner party on Sunday for which he requested ribs that he and James started cooking Saturday morning by sous-viding them for 36 hours.  

Ethan has become very involved in James’ new cooking hobby with the sous vide and also wanted to make his own birthday cake-a peach cobbler.

Ethan's 10-year-old Interview and Stats

Ethan has grown up quite a bit this year.  He is good with his younger cousins and likes to help out (although still struggles with being overly helpful with Preston who doesn't appreciate it).  He likes whatever James likes such as if James mentions he likes a new song, Ethan will suddenly start listening to it again and again.  He is very concerned about everything being fair and making sure he gets his special time (being the middle child is tough!) but when we try to do fun things and dates with him he often wants to invite Preston to come too.  
He especially loves his teacher this school year which has helped him become much more responsible with his school work and better about controlling his impulsive behavior.
He is a natural leader.  One example is with volleyball he takes it upon himself to be the self proclaimed 'assistant coach' constantly communicating with his teammates about where to go and how to improve.  Last year he tried to play the whole court by himself as he had more experience but now is doing better and bringing everyone else's skill levels up and their team has been undefeated so far.
He is great to help around the house as long as the jobs can be done swiftly without any attention to details.  :)

Height: 60 inches
Weight: 84 lbs
Sleeping: 10 hours (8:30 pm-6:30 am) Asleep within minutes of his head hitting the pillow, but even when we get to bed to late he never sleeps in.
Hobbies: Has backed off from sports a bit this year to focus more on music, enjoying a couple of after school music classes and piano.  Still also does track and volleyball.  Loves animals, especially catching lizards and frogs, and doing anything outdoors.

Ethan 10-year-old interview

What is your name? Ethan
When is your birthday? March 9th
How old are you? 10 years old
What is your favorite color?  Blue and Green
What is your favorite song? Phoenix by The Fall Out Boy
What does Mom do? Mom works around the house and works with the kids
What does Dad do? Dad's a veterinarian at City of Hope
What do you want to do when you are a grown up? I want to be a veterinarian too
Where do you want to live when you grow up? In California
If you had 1 million dollars, what would you do with it? I would pay my tithing, then save it for other things, and trips.
What is your favorite food? Pizza
What is your least favorite food? Mushrooms
What is your dream car? A race car?
What is your favorite animal? Tiger
Where do we go to church? Duarte Ward
Why do we go to church? Because Heavenly Father wants us to
What is something you’re good at? Sports
What is your favorite movie? Planet Earth
What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Oreo
Where would you like to travel? Florida Keys
Where do you like to eat? Cafe Rio
Who is your favorite person? Preston?
Who is your best friend? Justin
What is your favorite book? The Boys in the Boat
What is your favorite thing to do? Play outside
What are you most excited to do this year as a 10-year-old? Go to Italy