We started celebrating this past weekend, when Grandma and Grandpa Willett came up and presented him with his own mega set of not-made-in-China socket wrenches. There’s a broken lawn mower from freecycle in the garage with his name on it, just as soon as we get above freezing and he can take apart the engine out there without getting frostbite.
Then we got up early this morning to do pancakes and presents (especially the 14 books!) before Derek had to go to work. Susie announced that she’s glad she’s not a 14 year old boy, because all those sci fi books and military biographies look “so boring.” (She also announced that the WD-40 from Janie and duct tape from Elizabeth were boring, and they’d better buy her better presents for her birthday. Tommy tried to explain that he’d prefer duct tape to American Girl doll clothes, but Susie waved his opinions away.)
Then I had to take Annie to PT and Elizabeth and Susanna to orchestra, so it was up to Janie as the only woman at home to find a recipe and bake his birthday cookie (“crustulum cake!”) with brief guidance from me over the phone. She did ask me to do the piping when I got home. It tasted great!
It was while watching Tommy zoom with local buddies and then his South Bend bestie that I realized the kid really does know more about technology than I do now. Huh. At least he’s not too old for legos–he spent most of the time we were all at Irish dance class putting together his new space set from Grandma and Grandpa M! It might appear in some stop motion feature films, coming soon to a homeschool mom’s Instagram account near you.
Anybody noticing a poofy hair trend in all these pictures? Tommy has apparently decided that not combing his hair is the cool teenager thing to do…
Hey, you were the one who wouldn’t give me a buzz cut!