No Longer a Teenager

We have made it through the teenage years with our first.  This is the first birthday I was able  to spend with him in two years.  Last year he was at school finishing up his second quarter of college.  The year before that, I was gone with Benjamin on an 8th grade trip to New Orleans.  

He had a good day, I think.

First off - he's on spring break, so he gets to sleep in.  I think all college students love that!  Then in the afternoon he went with a few of his friends to pretend to be protesters in a training sessions for the local police. He's done this another time as well. I think today, he got to throw tennis balls at the trainees. 

Tonight we went out for dinner at a local Japanese place.  (We usually get Japanese on his birthday since he was born in Japan.)  After dinner we went home to hang out for a little while to wait for Drew to get home. He had been traveling, but got home just in time for cake and ice cream and gifts. 

And I think a good time had by all.....lots of laughing....and singing loudly in the car....love these kids...especially this one who made me a mom. 

 

Retirement

Today I went to a college friend's retirement ceremony from the Air Force. What a beautiful ceremony! Sort of made me wish Drew had chosen to do a ceremony....well, almost. 

Maybe the next time he retires, we will. 

 

A Total Klutz

If you are ever in doubt about my gracefulness, this should put an end to any speculation;

The bruise above my ankle is where I forgot to avoid the open dishwasher - and those corners are sharp!!

The bruise on my foot is from running into and tripping over something in the dark last night in my bedroom. Thought I had broken my foot it hurt so much!  Almost slept with an ice pack on my foot. Ouch! 

(They're shiney because I put neosporen on.)

(Think I need to re-paint m my toe nails... ) 

Tax Time

It's tax time!! My parents are in town so their favorite son-in-law and accountant can complete this yearly requirement. The best part? Shopping and Scrabble time with my mom. 

 

New Things

When I buy a car, they ought to kiss my feet and say 'thank you' instead of  shaking my hand and saying 'congratulations'.  

But still. I do like my new car. No more mini-van. 

 

Night to Shine

Last night our church hosted a Night to Shine which is a prom sponsored by the Tim Tebow Foundation. It was a lot of fun!!

My new friend is named Mark. He really wasn't into the dancing or the picture taking, but the food?? That he loved! 

 

 

 

 

God' Grace Shines

Well. Once again, God's Grace has shown on Benjamin.  Or else he's the luckiest boy around.

Lose a wallet? No problem.  He'll get it returned - with ALL the money still in it.  This has happened multiple times.

Lost a phone? No problem.  Even after being lost outside with the rain for two weeks, it'll be returned to Ben  - and THE PHONE STILL WORKS!

Make a dent in your mom's van's bumper?  No problem.  The body shop guy fixes it for free.


FREE!!

Lucky boy.

The body shop guy was able to pop it back into place....it doesn't look perfect, but it looks better than it did.  And didn't charge a single penny....

God's grace strikes again. 

 

Hot and Cold

 It's hot outside.  High over 80 today....my daffodils and tulip bulbs all think its spring. They are all sprouting up. And it's just early February. 

That's the hot.

Then there's the cold.

Or whatever it is.  Melissa stayed home today feeling ill....slight fever, sore throat...  And then Drew came home early with a slight fever, sore throat... I even had to go and pick up the neighbor boy from school because he was feeling bad.

I'll just be washing my hands and staying away from these family members.

Update on the Girlz

I guess I'll do an update on Melissa as well....  She has just over three months before high school graduation. This semester she has another easy schedule.  She's still taking a class at the local vo-tech school, then instead of the English class at the high school  she had last semester, this time she has a typing class.  Then she works the rest of the day at the middle school office.  She still really enjoying it.  I've gotten several compliments from teachers and staff there when I run into one around town.  She's doing a really great job it seems.

Just about every Sunday evening you'll find her in front of the computer working on scholarship applications.  She's already been awarded several from Ole Miss based on her ACT score.  These will take care of the out-of-state tuition and a good portion of the tuition.  I'm hoping that she'll win a few more that will give the cash out right to her instead of to the school. That way she can use that money toward books and other living cost.  Most are announced by end of April. 

She has chosen a roommate.  A girl she meet through one of the Ole Miss sites, but has not meet her in person. On paper it looks like a good fit.  I lean toward a stranger makes for a better roommate that a best friend, but time will tell. 

Melissa is planning on attending orientation this summer and we are hoping her roommate will attend the same one, so they can meet.

And, lastly, there's me.  I'm still enjoying my little part-time job.  I'm not getting the hours in that I was promised, but that's okay with me.  More time for sewing!(And reading!)  I done one baby quilt and one lap size quilts done this year. I'm currently working on one for Melissa.  It's got lots of pieces  - meaning it's time consuming! Especially when I mis-cut one type of strip and had to re-cut them.  Urggg.  But it's getting there. This coming Tuesday is a day off for me, and I'm hoping to get several hours in to work on it.  The quilt has two types of blocks.  It takes about three hours to get one type of block sewn.  One set is almost done - just need to iron them.  I'm hoping on Tuesday I'll get the second type block one.

The only other big thing with us is we are looking to replace my mini-van. Last Saturday and again today we went to test drive lots of brands.  I want something smaller than a mini-van.  There's a few cross-over type vehicles I like. We have narrowed it down to about four...but not sure which one we'll go with. We're in no real rush...so...we got time to find a good deal.

Update on the Boyz

Since I have a few minutes free on this dreary Saturday afternoon, I'll give that update that I thought about on Thursday.... 

William....he's still loving college.  I saw him a few weeks ago when I was at my parents.  I called and invited him over to watch one of the football playoff games - which he wasn't really interested in watching...but he did like the idea of me doing his laundry. So, he came over.  He still has a few weeks left in this quarter then he'll be home for a week before the spring quarter starts. He's telling us he has high B's and low A's. He already has a job for the summer, so he won't really be home much between now and mid-August.  He'll be working for the camp he worked with last summer. This summer he'll be on a 12 week contract instead of a 6 week one.

Benjamin...Mr. 16....yeah....he still needs to practice his driving....especially the backing up in a parking lot.  We are considering letting him get his license within the next month or two.  It would help if he ASKED to drive, but he doesn't.  Acts like he really doesn't care...so....yea....we're in no rush, then. 

Soccer ended a few weeks ago and I must say: As much as I enjoy watching Benjamin play, I, also, enjoy having a free calendar!  I made the executive decision that we would NOT be doing spring soccer with the local rec league.  I just need a break - actually, I think he needs a break, too.  We might do the summer league....we'll see...  He will be helping Melissa with the sound board at the high school play. That'll keep him busy a few weeks in March.

Then there's Drew.  He still loves his job and right now he isn't traveling.  It sort of odd that he doesn't have any trips on the calendar, but I'll take it! I like him being home.  For the last month or so, he's been busy with our rent house.  The renters moved out at the New Year and just this week we got new renters.  Overall, the change over went smooth.  We had no major damage done to the house - love it when a Marine is our renter! It was very clean!   They really were good renters....just wished they had stayed longer.  The new family is an active duty Air Force.  And once again, we're hoping they will stay two or three years.

While we had no damage and did not have to re-paint  or carpet the house, we did find out today that the hot tub has a leak.  Boo hiss hiss.  Oh, well. I guess the money we saved with the paint and carpet will be put into repairing the hot tub.  Such is life.

Yesterday....A Day in the Life of a Teenage Driver

Yesterday as Mr. 16 was driving us to his ortho apt, I was thinking that I need to write a blog post. Maybe one with an update on everyone since it's been like a month since I've posted.  I was going to say how well Mr. 16 was doing at driving.  He got us to ortho without me having to yell too much.  I still think he needs to brake sooner than he does....BUT! He stayed in the lane and didn't come close to any other car or mailbox or curb.

But then as we were leaving ortho this happened:




Yep.  He backed into someone.  Thankfully, it was a ten year old huge SUV...not a brand new Lexus or some such car.  The lady was nice about it...and since there was no damage on her car, we didn't even exchange insurance info.  But she did try to get a police report - which we found out our fair city doesn't do reports for parking lot mishaps.

Grateful for small favors in life.

But it put a damper on the day....he did NOT want to drive himself to school...sat in the back...  And yes, I was a good momma and told him I still loved him and was still proud of him. And that I wasn't TOO mad...just slightly annoyed. 

And we talked about how when you are driving you must not get distracted!! We got distracted by some people walking across the parking lots pulling suitcases. Where in the world did they come from and where were they going???

We'll never know because that's when we hit the SUV. 

Distractions. Not good when you are driving!!! 

We're hoping our body-shop guy can just pop it out....but that's on the list for Monday....

Here's the other car. See? No damage! Just a little white paint.