Thanksgiving 2015

Happy Thanksgiving! I realized today, as I was preparing our Thanksgiving feast, that this could be the last time we are all together for Thanksgiving for awhile. E is in the process of preparing his application to serve an LDS mission, with the hopes of leaving soon after his spring semester of college. And he'll be gone for TWO WHOLE YEARS! Luckily, today was a great day for some emotional eating.

Of course, when it comes to being thankful, this is the thing I'm most thankful for in the world.

And as much as I hate being in pictures, the whole "we might not be together on Thanksgiving for awhile" thing made me reconsider.

After the picture taking, we sat down to a fabulous meal, if I do say so myself. Has anyone else noticed that Thanksgiving dinner takes 3 days to make, 2 hours to clean up, and approximately 27 minutes to consume? Or is the person who makes Thanksgiving dinner the only one who notices this?

Also, we really like mashed potatoes. Pretty much the only time I use that enormous bowl is on Thanksgiving day for mashed potatoes.

In other exciting news, T found out he is getting his braces off on December 31! It's a few days too late to enjoy my homemade Christmas caramels, but I'm planning to stash a few away for him to enjoy on the first day of the new year.

And if that's not something to look forward to in 2016, I don't know what is.

Now He Goes Up To 11. He's One Older.

We had a birthday here yesterday! C is eleven! He arrived back in 2004, ten days early. Because he really wanted to squeeze in under the school deadline of September 15. The first thing I said (with great excitement) to my husband when I knew I was in labor was, "He'll be able to go to school a whole year earlier!"

I'm also grateful he came ten days early because even then, he weighed 8 pounds 10 ounces. Can you even imagine his size after ten more days?

And now here we are celebrating 11 years with this crazy kid!

What can I tell you about C? Everybody loves him. Literally. Everybody. Except for sometimes his brothers. He's smart, hilarious and a little bit feisty.

Here are a few photos from the past to illustrate what I mean.

I'm not sure how to photograph smart, but he did get the only perfect score on the first math test of the year. As a 6th grader in 7th/8th grade math. Not to brag or anything. But I totally am.

Also, he got 95% of the musical genes in the family. 100% if you only count the ability to sing. He's a math wiz and an awesome soccer goalie. And he plays a mean guitar. He's definitely one-of-a-kind and we can't imagine life without him. Happy Birthday C!

Our Favorite Fifteen Year Old

Today is T's birthday, and there are a few important things you need to know about him.

First of all, he asked for a Samoas cheesecake for dessert. Yes, that's a cheesecake topped with coconut, caramel and chocolate, just like the cookie. That alone sends him right to the top of the Kid-of-the-Year list.

He also loves Reese's Peanut Butter Cups......

and bow ties. Which makes him very cool, in a Dr. Who-ish sort of way. I mean, look how excited he is about the goldfish bow tie he got for his birthday.

But best of all, he's always the first one to ask if I need help with dinner, or cleaning, or just about anything. Here's a little story to illustrate the kind of kid he is.

A few months ago, he remembered a field trip to an avionics company he took in 8th grade. The owner mentioned that sometimes they hired kids for the summer. So with absolutely no suggestion whatsoever from his parents, he sent them an email and said he'd be interested in working there. To make a long story short, he has a summer job doing everything from mowing lawns to installing seats in airplanes! Because that's just the kind of industrious, self-motivated, hard-working kid he is. 

His employers love him so much, when G went to pick him up a few weeks ago, they insisted he come in and see all of the things T had been doing at work.

At the end of the school year, one of his teachers told us that he'd asked the kids to try and sit by/befriend/talk to the kids who didn't seem to know anyone or have anyone to sit with. He said most of the kids kept it up for a few weeks, but T was still doing it at the end of the school year. And did I mention he had a 4.0 in his first year of high school? 

HAPPY 15th BIRTHDAY T! You're awesome! And I'm not just saying that because of the Samoas Cheesecake.

Time Flies

I'm sitting here, staring at my computer screen, and no matter how long I sit or how long I stare, I just don't know what to say about this.....

Although I do have a much better idea what people mean when they use the phrase a roller coaster of emotions. I'm so excited for the next chapter in E's life, but a little bit nervous. I'm so happy he's done with high school, but kind of sad that he's all grown up.

I've been thinking about these wise words all weekend: Don't let yourself become so concerned with raising a good kid that you forget you already have one. 

Yep. I've pretty much had one since the day he was born.

And seriously, the grown-up thing is official. We called the doctor's office the other day to get his immunization records and they said we can't have them because he's 18 now. 

It doesn't seem like quite enough to say "I'm so proud!" Because I'm more than proud. But I don't know what the word for that is. So I looked up proud in an online thesaurus and found the term great-hearted. I think that's as close as I'm going to get to describing how I feel.

E received his diploma from his Robotics coach, Mr. Charters. Isn't it great that they get to choose a teacher to give them their diploma? They also got to sit with that teacher throughout the ceremony.

Because we love graduations so much around here, we had 2 in one weekend. High school graduation Saturday and seminary graduation on Sunday.

E and this awesome group of kids have been getting up VERY early every school day for the last 4 years to attend an early morning scripture study class at 6 am before school. Over those 4 years they have studied the Old and New Testaments, the Book of Mormon, and church history. If that kind of early rising doesn't build character, I don't know what will!

Not to brag or anything, but he's standing up during this part of the ceremony because he got a scholarship.

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned more than once what a great kid adult E is. Maybe it's just because I'm his mom, but I feel like you can tell what an amazing person he is just by looking at him. So I'll leave you with a few more (a slight understatement) photos of his graduation.

He's an Adult Now

Even though it clearly hasn't been 18 years since I gave birth to him, somehow E turned 18 today. I know. How is that even possible?

What, you may wonder, does a typical 18 year-old boy want for his birthday? I don't know. Because my 18 year-old is not typical. He's like a million times better than typical. He's pretty much the best kid ever.

So he asked for a new desk. Because he couldn't put his computer on his old desk and still have room to do homework. Yep, that's his big life problem at the ripe old age of 18. Which makes it totally believable for me to tell you that he's given me about 10 minutes of trouble in his whole entire life.

Of course, turning 18 is kind of a big deal, so we thought he deserved something more than a new desk. Like some awesome new desk accessories.....

Yep, that's a Tetris desk lamp, and a Star Trek mug, a.k.a pencil holder. He already had the Sonic Screwdriver pen. Because he's cool like that.

And he has great taste in food too. His requested birthday dinner? Salmon, mashed potatoes and blackberry pie. We also had carrots. He didn't ask for that. I just felt obliged to serve a vegetable.

Why three candles? Because that's how many we had. But he definitely deserved more. He's not one for a big hoo-ha though, so three was probably good.

When people tell me what a great kid E is--and believe me, it happens all the time--I just have to agree and tell them that's the way he came to us. And despite all my efforts at being his momager (that's short for mom/manager) who he is hasn't changed much (thankfully) since the day he arrived. Happy Birthday to the kid who made me a mom 18 years ago today!

Turning 10 is Totally Terrific!

Oh, to be 10 again! I mean, at my age you just can't get away with making your own super tall paper birthday crown and wearing it around all day. But it's perfectly normal when you're 10.

C's 10th birthday was yesterday, but we started the festivities last Friday with a party at the local fun center with some of his friends. Looks like his dad mistakenly thought it was a party for him (see bottom right).

Remember the Bungle Suit? Trust me, if you've seen it, you would not soon forget. Well, one of his awesome friends gave him something to go with the Bungle Suit. A Bungle Suit cape! Now that I see it, it's so clear....the Bungle Suit was missing a cape. And a headlamp, apparently.

A friend who encourages your Bungle Suit wearing is a friend indeed! (I think). Also, just for the record, Bungle suit wearing is even less acceptable past a certain age than super tall paper birthday crown wearing.

C has been looking forward to his birthday gift for several weeks now. And he's used it every waking minute that he hasn't been at school or soccer practice. Thankfully, he's pretty good. Because this gift is LOUD!

Please take note of the Pink Floyd guitar strap, chosen by C himself, and appreciate the great effort we have put into instilling a sense of coolness in our children. True, we may have encouraged him to choose the Pink Floyd strap because it was so much cheaper than the one with flames. But he knew who Pink Floyd was. I promise!

We finished off the day with a delicious dinner at Jim's Wings and came home and ate birthday cake made out of crepes and spray-can whipped cream and Nutella.

Turning 10 is definitely terrific at this house! Mostly because the kid turning 10 is totally terrific! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!