This is a little late but Mason turned 14! They are growing up so fast. I am having a hard time believing he will be in high school next year. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! I still see him as my sweet 3 year old boy. (unfortunately he doesn’t smell the same). We love Mason. He will always be my little boy even though before long he will be taller then me.
I am once again way behind. I have given up on catching up. Last month we did hit a milestone. We now have a 16 year old. This also means that Chris was able to get his learners permit. AHHHHHH!!! They do things a little different here as far as drivers licenses. You can’t get your permit until you are 16 then you have to drive with an adult and take a driving course before you can get your license at 17. There are so many kids here that don’t even get their license until they are 18. It is not the right of passage for some as it was where I grew up. I got my license right when I turned 16 and I was out on the roads. (Sounds scary now that I have my own 16 year old.) I am also learning why parents shouldn’t teach their kids to drive. I let Chris drive home last night. (My hands still hurt from gripping the handle on the dash) Alex thought she was going to die. We are looking in to driving schools. I told him that I will let him drive more after he takes a driving course. I don’t think I was prepared for this stage of life and it only goes down hill from here. Mason just had to inform me that it will be his turn in 2 years. All I can say is AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
Stephanie is making me write this. She is also making me write that I have only one more year until I am over the hill. Yay.
Now that the formalities are out of the way, we had some Halloween fun outside of making fun of my age. We only carved 8 pumpkins this year, they seemed to be hard to come by, and expensive (thanks, Adam Smith). We did get one free thanks to Sarah’s fine performance in the 5th grade pumpkin run (she got 2nd place). But the kids had fun nonetheless. Everyone but Chris and Claire went out trick-or-treating.
Chris sat motionless on the front porch with a bucket of candy in his lap and waited for unsuspecting suckers. They would come up in groups and he’d let a couple of them get candy, then scare them. They would all debate if he was real or a dummy (we have our own opinion some days), and some even poked him. In the end, he was the winner and scared everyone. One lady wouldn’t even come back up on the porch to get candy for her kid. She made her husband go up. (Click the photo to embiggen)
Kate had a blast. She walked the whole way, and everyone loves to give more candy to a cute little witch. So it worked out good for me. And she is Daddy’s girl, so she likes Reese’s as much as I do. They all came home with tons of candy, and Mason had a fit when we had everyone put their candy into the community bucket. Now he can explain socialism to his social studies class.
I treated everyone to a birthday prime rib that I grilled, along with some twice-baked potatoes and Gulliver’s creamed corn. Stephanie even made me my favorite 12-layer cookie cake. I scared the kids with my hillbilly costume. Mainly with the teeth. Kate wouldn’t let me kiss her with them in. We had a fun Halloween.
Click here for the whole set of Halloween and birthday pictures up on our Flickr site.
Sarah turned 11 (almost a teen) and had a happy birthday. She got the vest she has been asking for since last year, a hoodie, and a set of Legos, since the boys are not very sharing with theirs. She also got a watch and some games (both board and electronic) so she was thrilled.
Click here to see a set of her birthday photos on our Flickr page.
Here I am getting behind again. Having three birthdays six days apart makes it difficult for me. At least that’s my excuse. A few of Mason’s friends came over on Saturday and Chris took them to see Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D at the IMAX theater. When they came home the ran around outside playing whatever it is 13 year olds play. There were plenty of sticks, oh I mean swords involved. We made pizza but apparently they only kind his friends eat is cheese, (boring!). They claimed they were not hungry because they ate popcorn at the theater. It is the only group of boys I have come across who where not ravenously hungry after running around outside for an hour. They did have a well balanced dinner of ice cream and soda. They finished off their evening playing on the Wii. On Sunday, Mason enjoyed opening his gifts, eating his favorite special meatloaf and 4 cheese macaroni and cheese. We followed it up with a white chocolate cheese cake covered with Reese’s peanut butter cup crumbs and white chocolate. After the amount of birthday cake we have had this month it is good we don’t have another birthday until August. Click here to see more pictures from Mason’s birthday.
This is my slice of birthday cake. Thank you Michelle for finding and introducing me to the best cheese cake I have ever made at home. I missed that she wasn’t here to help me make it. It was so good I had to have some for breakfast too. Then I didn’t look at the scale at the doctors office. It was worth every extra pound. That is why I try to make one only once a year, otherwise I would become very fat.
It is 32 oz. of cream cheese, 1 cup of unsalted butter, 1 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup cornstarch, 2 cups heavy whipping cream, and 6 eggs. Whipped up and then cooked in a water bath, which insures it is cooked evenly. It comes out extremely rich and creamy.
Click here to see more pictures of my cheese cake.
Chris thinks he will be ridiculed for buying me a washer and dryer for my birthday. I could have certainly had a new ring or something but boy am I excited. They are going to make my life so much easier. No more bending over, so many washing, and drying options, quieter and most important a much larger capacity. I was able to wash and dry twice the amount in half the time it normally takes me. Now on to my yummy water bath cheese cake!!! Yum Yum!
Yesterday we celebrated Alexandra’s 8th birthday. It took me most of the day to convince Kate it was not her birthday. She is catching on and Alex was nice enough to let her help open her gifts. She even sang a nice happy birthday song to Alexandra instead of to herself which is what she has been doing since the party on Saturday. Between the two of them we have the cheesiest grins I have ever seen! If you want to see more pictures from her birthday click here.
Alexandra has been going crazy for weeks waiting for her birthday party at Build-A-Bear. I think she woke up at six in the morning and started asking if it was time to go every 30 minutes. I took her to pick out an ice cream cake and balloons to pass the time. Everyone had a great time picking out their animals and marching all over the store. We then came back to the house for cupcakes and ice cream. I think everyone ate 3 or 4 cupcakes before running off to play. Later in the evening we took her out to eat at 5 Guys burger and fries. Thats one party down and one more to go. What was I thinking having 3 birthdays in March all a week apart.
Did I say 15!! Yikes that makes me feel old. He is also taller then me now. He has started to bug me about when he can learn to drive which thankfully in this state doesn’t start until after they are 16. I need the next 11 months to let that soak in. Chris is a great kid and it is hard to believe how quickly the time flies. I have a few years left with him in the house. I am not sure what I will do when the time comes for him leave home. Cheer, cry, etc. I am sure I will have a lot of mixed emotions.
Hard to believe, but Sarah is turning 10. She’s into the double digits! She had a fun birthday. Mason organized a trunk-or-treat activity at church, and invited a bunch of her friends. They came dressed up, and a few went all out and decorated their car trunks accordingly. We like Mason’s selflessness with things like this (but you know, as parents, we wish it extended further sometimes – like working together on chores, or just getting along. Oh well, we take what we can get.)
Sarah also had a custom cake she designed with Mom. It had a Disney princess theme, and she got to pick everything out. She did pretty well in the presents department too – some clothes and books that she really wanted, and a new baby doll that actually eats, drinks, and fills its’ diaper! Gross! Also included was a cupcake machine that was also on the wish list. She has not offered to make me any cupcakes yet, but I will keep asking.
You can see the other pictures from her party by clicking here.
Happy Birthday Kate!!! We can’t believe she is already 2! She is so busy, running and getting into things. She keeps us on our toes. The kids still like her most of the time and she is their little shadow. She wants to do everything they do. Between getting Uncle Josh off to the airport, getting her gifts wrapped, getting ready for our trip, and Grandpa and Grandma leaving the next day it got very crazy. Right in the middle of all this craziness Chris failed to catch a pop fly while playing catch with Grandpa and ended up needing 10 stitches. Almost 3 hours of our day was running around from doctors office to ER to get him stitched up. We made it home in time to have dinner and celebrate her birthday.
Click here to see all the photos from her birthday, including Junior’s stitches.
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