Sunday, August 31, 2014

Sixteen!!!

All I can say is Wow.  Just wow. Sixteen years a go this kid made me a mom for the first time.  How lucky am I?

Since his birthday fell on a Sunday this year, Shawn and I took him out to breakfast on Saturday morning - all by himself.  A rare treat. 
He also got breakfast Sunday morning, complete with candles in his pancakes.

Shawn couldn't wait to give him this present so he made him open it first.

Samantha was as intrigued as Jonas.  What could it be?


Oh yeah!  Razors and shaving cream.  Nothing more exciting than that!

Jonas' water polo ball cake.  Fitting.




(Samantha has a thing for trying to make the weirdest/ugliest faces she can when a camera points her direction.  I'm hoping this will end soon,)





Samantha also worked very hard coming up with some unique gifts to give.  Here is her first piece of art work.  Purple giraffe - front and back.  (I suspect she initially intended to only use the back end but decided to add the front end, too.)
And this lovely note which reads, "May your day be as wonderful as a unicorn farting rainbows."  Honestly, sometimes I don't know where this child comes from.
And finally, since Jonas is very well known for being extremely "punny" around here, Samantha made him some "tearable" puns.  Oh my.


And of course, since this was Jonas' 16th birthday, we decided to give him a
car.
How cool is that?  So, he won't be able to drive it or anything, but still, it's an awesome car.
This is one of my absolute favorite people to be with.  He is intelligent, funny, talented and so fun to be with. Not to mention that he has fantastic hair.  I love the young man he has become and can't wait to see what is in his future!



Cake and ice cream to finish the night.




My two big boys.




Things have changed a little bit since the first time Shawn held him 16 years ago.
Man, I love this kid!  Happy Birthday Jonas!

Friday, August 29, 2014

Random August Happenings

A significant amount of our time is spent in the world of swimming.  Like, the majority of it, it seems.
But the team is going gangbusters, and we couldn't be happier.
Jonas has absolutely no desire to do any shopping, so we just chose some things for him.  We texted him pictures and he voted yea or nay.  It worked out nicely.


More pool time.  Honestly, we are there a lot.

Shawn may or may not have gotten a speeding ticket.
Something I wanted to save.
And somewhere in there, (the 19th to be exact), we celebrated Shawn's 42nd birthday.  Honestly, I can't believe there isn't another picture somewhere, and I  can't even remember what we did exactly, but I know we did something.  I know he was coaching water polo and I took cookies and balloons to the pool.  I hope he feels more celebrated than this post indicates!

Monday, August 25, 2014

First day of School 2014 or This is Not Awesome!

I know as a mom I'm supposed to be all excited about sending my kids back to school, but I'm so not.  I could use at least another month of summer.  (Actually, let's be honest,  I'd be happy if it could always be summer.)  Anyway, this morning I had to say good bye to my companions and send them out into the world again.  

Samantha headed off to 8th grade.


Amelia going to 5th grade.
(I'd have to say she's the most excited of everyone - except maybe Peter, but he has to wait a week before he starts.)

Little Duffy, or the toothless wonder, going off to her first day of 3rd grade.



And finally, Jonas, heading off to high school for his first day of 10th grade.


(Thanks, Jonas for posing for pictures for me.  I know it makes you crazy.)
Off they go, each taking a little piece of my heart with them.

The little girls, at least, don't seem as bothered by it as I am.