Happy 15th Birthday, Sean!!

 Hard to believe the one that made me a mom is already 15!  Time sure is flying by now.  I mean, he looks so grown up!

He's been managing adjusting to high school so well, getting up on his own and leaving the house before the rest of us, going to practice every day after school, and staying on top of his homework and studying.  To say we're proud is an understatement!  

To celebrate, he went to school and practice.  We picked him up a smidge early to be able to go to the card store and dinner.  He picked Los Tres Amigos (with no singing this year - his choice).  He also opted for ice cream brownie sundaes for dessert.  We ended the night watching playoff baseball on TV, watching him open his card packs he bought, and opening presents.  I think he had a good day!

We celebrated with Scott's family the weekend of his birthday by going to Mark and Janet's house for pizza, cookies and ice cream, and carving pumpkins (as tradition for the October birthday people).  It was a fun evening and the Lions won, which made it even better!

And finally, we celebrated with my parents last Sunday after my mom and I got home from Salem, MA.  We did pizza for lunch and had cake from Luka Pastry in Canton.  We opened gifts and watched football.  It was another nice day with family.

Sean is officially 5'8" and a 145 lbs.  He's wearing men's large in shirts and men's small or medium in pants.  He's surpassed me in height now!  He has his drivers permit and is working on getting his hours as much as possible, driving home from practices mostly.  He's been busy with freshman football that's about to come to an end and then he'll have a 3 week break before wrestling starts.  While he didn't go to Homecoming this year, I feel like he's adjusted to being in high school and has made lots of new friends.  I guess that's one of the perks of the unique high schools/campus he attends (lots of new faces)!  

We're so proud of him and can't believe how fast he's growing up!  He can be sarcastic and witty, but overall I appreciate his maturity and our conversations we're able to have now.  He's obsessed with football, Fantasy Football, and trading cards (football and baseball).  He also is into fishing now and even got some accessories for his birthday from Pops.  It's fun to see him really blossom and figure out who he is as a person. 

Happy 15th, Sean!!

Happy 13th Birthday, Evan!!

 

This kiddo is 13 and officially a teenager!  Not sure how that can be already!  Time certainly flies by.  And he's had the attitude of a teenager for a few years so in some ways, it feels like he's been 13 for a long time.  

We celebrated his birthday a day early this year since his birthday was on the first day of school.  We did our annual traditions of pancakes for breakfast, a trip to Three Cedars for opening weekend, and dinner of his choice out somewhere.  Sean drove us to Three Cedars (also crazy...) and we enjoyed an early afternoon visit.  Although, Evan did say he feels too old for many of the things at the cider mill now.  Of course, he still enjoyed filling a paper bag of candy at the "spooky store".  

We ran some errands after Three Cedars, mostly to kill time before grabbing an early dinner.  Evan chose Texas Roadhouse this year and got a steak and french fries, which he ate every bite of.  It was tasty!  We had him open his gifts back and home and waited to sing Happy Birthday until his actual birthday, the following day, with a leftover piece of cake that he made with Grandma.  I'd say his day was a good one!

We celebrated with Grandma and Grandpa earlier that weekend over at their house.  They grilled steak and we watched college football.  Evan and I had baked his cake from scratch earlier that morning and he opted to do a homemade buttercream frosting with Grandma at her house.  He did a great job this year!  

We wrapped up his birthday celebrations this past weekend with Scott's family for an Evan and Mindy combined party.  We hosted and planned a lunch at our house and the Lion's game on TV.  Evan wanted wings so we ordered those from WingSnob and also had chips, salsa, and queso, veggies, and fruit.  Jackie made cauliflower wings for the vegetarians and Nana picked up some pizzas from Jets.  Nana also made her usual ice cream cake.  The Lions won and it was a nice afternoon!

He also had a "friends" birthday party at Sportway of Westland and back at our house with a few close friends.  They came over at 3, we drove them to Sportway where they got wristbands for being able to do each of the activities, and then everyone came back to our house for pizza, cupcakes, and gifts.  Evan swindled three of the friends into spending the night, but thankfully, they were all well behaved and didn't stay up all night!

Whew!  In other news, Evan is in 7th grade this year and is about 110 lbs and about 5'5".  He's grown quite a bit over the past several months!  He's wearing shoes anywhere from size 8-9 depending on the brand and is wearing a mix of youth extra large all the way up to adult medium in clothes.  He's still my picky eater, but he's been on a big breakfast kick of eggs, bacon, toast, and hashbrown patties after football practices.  He still prefers things like steak, chicken pita sandwiches with fries, pasta, or pizza otherwise.  

He's still playing his guitar quite a bit, but has stopped taking lessons because of how busy he is with sports.  He spent his own money recently that he had been saving for quite a while to buy an acoustic guitar!  He's also playing football for the first time this fall with West Catholic and has really stepped into the role of being wide receiver, tight end, and safety.  Obviously, baseball is still his favorite and he's patiently waiting for the new season to start.  He'll be with the same organization and most of the same team again this year!

We are so proud of how hard he works at the things he's passionate about and we hope he has a safe, successful, and fun year ahead of him!