At Dinner tonight, after William finished eating his watermelon, we noticed he was using it for something else.
It's funny, because if you know me well at all, you know I HATE talking on the phone. And so he doesn't see me doing it that often. But I guess it's often enough.
Kaitlyn has this realistic looking stuffed cat. William loves it. He was holding it so tightly this morning that he would barely let me buckle him in carseat without keeping at least one hand securely on "kitty". 
...And in other news... William is so used to his mom taking pictures of him, that he now says, "Chzzzz" whenever he sees the camera.
Tom has been waiting to give Alan this 22 since he bought it a few years ago from our friend Toby. It will stay in Tom's safe, and Alan will never be allowed to handle it without his Dad around until he's 18. We figure 18 is a good age to wait for, since you have to be 18 before you can buy a gun. But he's going to a junior shooting class on Ft. Benning (run by his Dad and a 3 time Olympian), and so we figure it's a good time to let him have his own gun. He's super excited.
Alan turns 10 tomorrow. YAY!! The birthday festivities began on Friday afternoon when he got home from school and discovered a handmade "starwars" card from Uncle Johnny and Aunt Jenette. He loved it!! He opened it right away and when he saw the light saber duel on the front said, "Oh! Cool!!"
Then, he had his birthday party yesterday with 12 friends. Add our 4 to the mix and we had 16 kids here total. Only 1 parent decided to stay at the party. I guess we should feel complimented that all these parents trusted Tom and I to leave their children here when they didn't even know us. But, those kids were so wild, I'm thinking they were just grateful for a place to leave them for 2 hours. :) It was crazy, but fun.
Here's a little taste of what we had for 2 hours. Alan's friends "singing" Happy Birthday to him.I'm not one of those sentimental mom's that get all weepy because my "baby" is 10. I'm excited that he's getting older. He's a huge help to me around the house, and is becoming so responsible. Most importantly, it's really neat to be able to have discussions with him about what the talks were in Sacrament meeting, or what he learned from our Book of Mormon reading the other night. I'm so happy to hear him share his testimony in church or teach a lesson for Family Home Evening. I'm looking forward to the happiest days when he leaves to serve a mission, and when he is married in the Temple.
Happy Birthday Alan Michael!
