If it's not fun, you're not doing it right...

14 years old



So birthdays and 14 year old boys are kind of a non-event. I'm sure I won't be saying this when Morgan is 14, but everything about a 14 year old birthday needs to be understated. Party...no, just wants to hang out with friends. Invites via email (not even Evite), dinner, movie, cake-but no candles and singing, sleepover and sleeping in till almost 9:00.



But all bets are off when it's my day to celebrate with my boy :) I don't have kids turning 14 everyday so I wanted to make the day special.
Garrett has had the same pay as you go phone since fifth grade and despite going through the washer and dryer, that thing would not die, much to Garrett's dismay. Garrett's been a little vague about what kind of phone he wanted because ultimately it needs to work with the phone plan that we are willing to pay for. So we decided to give him cash and let him decide.
So I made this cake

If you can't read texting language it says Are you 14? Happy Birthday. You are great.


And then I found this

How perfect was this? So now, what do I do about the money? Take a look.





I did good if I do say so myself! It's not easy getting this type of expression from a 14 year old.

Happy Birthday Garrett!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Ta Da!!


I know, this is not terribly exciting, but yet another one of Morgan's ideas- something she's been bugging us to do for several years. We found some planters online and were all set to order them, but a trip to Costco changed our plans. They had this whole kit in a box, just the right size for our space.

The kit also came with a humongous bag of nails. If you know us, that is usually something we try to avoid. But it turned into a family effort over several weekends putting together the beds one at a time. Finally we got a free weekend and some beautiful weather and were able to finish it up.

Tomatoes, bell peppers, strawberries, squash, zucchini, some herbs like basil, rosemary, parsley, and mint and a some butterfly attracting plants and we're just waiting for our garden to grow.

She's Crafty Like Her Mama

Morgan and I have more than light brown hair and freckles in common. She loves a good craft.
She found a series of video tutorials on easy sewing project and in total Morgan fashion, took the project on herself and figured it out. This purse is made from a tank top, the handles are the straps of the tank top. Unlike her Mama, she's already figuring out how to market these. She came home with a friend's tank top today.

Love Story

He's got a twinkle in his eyes, a bounce in his step, and merriment in his voice.

Guess what we found? Yay!!! I actually need to give credit to Morgan who found it outside absolutely soaked. It's rained for the last two days, but he must have followed me when I took some garbage out and left it there.
So those four hours I spent turning the house upside down-waste!
Those couple hours I spent on eBay and various other sites looking for a replacement-waste!
The moment I pulled the blanket out of the dryer-priceless!!

Thanks for all the positive thoughts!

Missing :(

Aww, this makes me so sad. My blanket loving little boy lost his blanket. These pictures were taken two days ago (little did I know :( ).

All of my kids have been blanket babies. I have never been able to predict which blanket would become the favorite. Garrett had a woven blanket, we still have remnants of it. Morgan's Gymboree blanket fared better in terms of condition, but it still lost part of its binding. And Jack's was just getting to that point of being worn in. See that last photo with his finger around the tag? That's was the spot.

The frustrating part is he woke up with it yesterday and we went one place...to the grocery store, but didn't take it with us and when he came home we could not find it for his nap. We have looked in every closet, every drawer, under beds, behind doors, in the pantry (found it there before), dryer, etc... It has vanished. I'll ask him where it is and he says, "I no know" in the saddest voice you ever heard.

Several times I thought I should buy a back up blanket. Those have come in handy before. It's just a simple fleece Carters blanket, but I can't find the exact one, they all have emblems on them. So putting out a plea, if you have seen this blanket, please let me know!!! It will make one little boy very happy.

Remember When

I know this doesn't seem like an odd series of pictures. I'm sure we all grew up riding our bikes to school, but here Morgan is in the last few months of elementary school riding her bike to/from school for the very first time.

We live just about a mile from school, but for most of that mile it is along a very busy street. Add to that the hills along the way and the fact that almost every kid at her school is dropped off by a parent in a car and quite honestly I never considered it an option.

But Morgan has been begging to ride her bike. She and a couple neighborhood kids put together a plan, bought bike locks, pumped up tires and continued to beg until we realized how silly we were being.

Kid + riding bikes=childhood passage

Cayucos

Home and unpacking. We were treated to two of these gorgeous sunsets. Could we have picked a better weekend? More to share later.