Happy birthday Gabe!

Our Gabey is now 10 years old!  He didn't want a birthday party with friends, so we celebrated pandemic-style.  

Here he is opening a bunch of presents.  He got a "moon ball" which is a tennis ball sized ball made out of some material similar to styrofoam except that it retains kinetic energy really well.  When you bounce it on the ground, it bounces super high up in the air...hence the name.

He also got a weird shape-shifting thing that he played with a lot.

He got a card and red envelope from Elvin's parents.

By far, the thing that excited him the most was a huge pack of Tic Tacs from Eliana.  It was a variety pack with lots of flavors.

A big hug for big sister!

He also wanted and got a ton of Squishmallows.  They are stuffed animals but made of some foam-type material that is really squishy.  He sleeps with them every night and there are so many his bed gets really crowded.

His new friends...

Instead of a birthday cake, he wanted to celebrate with a cornucopia of donuts.  

Happy birthday Gabe!  Make a wish!

This past year, he really enjoyed playing soccer and that became his "thing".  He has been playing on the same team of boys for three seasons now.

Here is a little snippet of him making a run for the goal.

And when not kicking the ball around the house (much to his mom's consternation) he is often climbing furniture around the house (much to his mom's consternation.)  To help him burn off a little bit of this excess energy, Emily signed him up for ninja camp, which basically means he gets to run around, jump on things, and climb things to his heart's delight.  Here he is on the last day, where the kids do the obstacle course in front of the parents.

Here he is again, doing more acrobatic type stuff.  This time, he strung a rope across the swing set and is going across.

When not in motion, he can be found reading.  Even if perched in what looks to be a very uncomfortable position.

He also does other ridiculous stuff.  He wanted Elvin to slice him a circle slice of watermelon.

Which got a little messy to eat.

And then got real messy when it became his headband.

And he is continuing his interest in cooking.  He decided to make tomato soup off of a recipe book he read.  First, the onions were diced.

Then they were sauted, along with minced garlic and black pepper.

Then the tomatoes go in.

He added a little bit of chicken broth and blended it all.

Yummy!  The leftovers go in the fridge.  

So that's our Gabey at ten years of age!