Tinker Turns the Page on Another Year

 I turned around twice and this baby is 15 years old! It seems like a heartbeat. Have I even slept? Being a middle child myself, I appreciate that middle children are firecrackers. It's what keeps life interesting! And life with Tinker is definitely always fun and interesting.  (When your birthday is on the last week of school and your mom's a teacher, the news takes a minute to post!)

We just finished another season of softball and she was fortunate again to be drafted onto a team with another great coach who was super patient and taught her a lot. She is in JROTC and it's her favorite thing about high school. She has always  loved school but this is her absolute best thing ever. It's exercise, it's competition, you don't have to be quiet or sit much, there aren't too many girls; it's made for her! 

Don't let your brother cut your hair

Tink's big goal right now is to earn the right to take Driver's Ed next summer. We set up a program so that she can objectively earn it and I promise you, like everything she sets her mind to, she will get there. I'll do a post on what we came up with, program-wise, in a few days.

The girl is learning to cook. It's a miracle. So far, she's made shells and homemade marinara sauce and then, last night, Mediterranean Couscous Bowls. She's doing great!

Scroll down for a couple more snaps of our girl through the years. 

Pasta shells w/ Marinara

 

Mediterranean Couscous Bowls

 

Birthday Boys

The Spring Birthday season has arrived! And not a moment to soon for The Captain!

On Friday, this sweet boy turned 7.  We started the day with birthday pancakes, which were really just our whole-wheat pancakes with sprinkles; don't tell the kids they were still the healthy ones!  I did give them a choice of syrup or frosting (left over from cupcakes) and they all picked frosting. Oh, yuck.

We took cupcakes to daycare (it's Spring Break and Mama works on Fridays so, daycare!) and cupcakes to ball practice but told him a few days back the celebration would wait until Saturday. He got back from ball practice around 7:30 and ate his birthday Mac & Cheese and went to bed anxious for Saturday.

He loved his presents. There was a sweet moment where he got some handkerchiefs I had given him and said, "These remind me of Papa. Sometimes when he isn't here I have to remember hard that he isn't dead. But these will help me remember that I see Papa again some day."  Oh, it broke my heart! He loves his Papa so much.

We got him a basketball hoop and obviously a basketball. He opened the ball and all his other gifts and then Daddy said we needed to come outside to see something. He was standing there with the camera and caught this great shot of The Captain when he saw the hoop.

We've hardly seen him since. We hear a lot of ball dribbling and "boing-g-g-g-g-g-" and we know where he is. He hit the pavement in his jammies this morning and it was none to warm out there. So cute.

Daddy had a great birthday too. I bought him a Fitbit --which he didn't know he wanted-- but already loves. He loves data so much and it is a data machine.

He also got tons of music and lots of other nice stuff. We had King Ranch Chicken for dinner (Dad's fav) and Pepper made them both her amazing Bananas Foster Cake.  It was a great day, truly.

Six!

We have a six-year-old in the house!  After two days of celebrating, I think The Captain felt sufficiently birthday'ed.  It should have been his party year but since we are holding him back in Kindergarten for another year, I didn't want to have his classmates over.

We started the day -- a beautiful one by any measure -- stretching our legs at a nearby park with siblings (all but Pepper who was working) and friends Theo and Jacob. (The Blitz was there but he was so busy gabbing to Ms. Colleen I didn't get any pictures!) All he said he wanted to do was go to Chuck E Cheese so after a little internal debate, I agreed. Over-stimulating environments are hard on him but he hasn't been in such a place for 3 years so we thought we'd try it.

They all had a ball. For the most part, they listened to our instructions, ate a few bites of pizza, and had a ball playing the games. I didn't love it, but it was made bearable by Daddy taking off from work to meet us and Ms. Colleen and boys joining the fun. It was really the perfect birthday for a 6-year-old. He got Legos from Gram and Grandpa and had so much fun building, we let him stay up to midnight. He still claimed not to be tired but could barely keep his eyes open! This is the blessing of a Spring Break birthday.

We capped the celebration on Friday -- Dear Hubby's birthday -- by fixing a shrimp creole feast and transporting it to Grandma's. (She is recuperating from knee replacement). I failed to get any pictures of that event (or any of the gift opening -- sorry Grandparents). The Captain had a terrier cake, decorated to look like Bubby, and Daddy had key lime pie, made from scratch by the invincible cook, Pepper.

Birthday Boy!

It's hard to believe, but The Captain is 5.  Can it be?  The Blitz -- right now -- is the exact age The Captain was when they all arrived.  He seems so little!

The Captain, on the other hand, seems SO big!  All of a sudden, all his size 5s look too small and I had to order enough clothes to get him through the cold season.  Grandma gave him some birthday money so he will get to pick out some clothes and maybe a toy.  It seems they have so many toys.

I got up this morning and The Blitz said, "Hey, that's a birthday cake!"  (Imagine that with a Brooklyn-ish accent.  We don't know where his inner New Yorker comes from!)  I said, "Yes, guess whose birthday it is?"

The Captain jumped up and yelled, "It's my birthday, mom?  Really?  I'm 5 now?"  This is huge for him.  SO much talking.  Anyway, here's a peek at the big day so far:

I ordered pizza, everyone's favorite.  Then we waited for the cake.

One of us was not a gracious waiter.

This "Dandy Lion" cake was baked and decorated by Pepper.  It's a "Cut-Out" cake from the original antique books I got from Mom.  We had cut-out cakes when we were kids and my kids have had them too.  I better make a copy of those books and store them in a safe place!

Then he blew all the candles out on the first try.  He wished for a bat.  He didn't know not to tell!

Finally, trying out the bat.  (Sorry for the fuzzy video; not sure why it is like that!)

Thanks, Daddy, for coming home on your lunch hour.  It's really hard to wait all day when you are only 5!

Celebrating Pepper

Our Pepper turned 15 last Saturday.    A few weeks before her birthday she said all she wanted was to be able to take several of her friends to Red Lobster for her birthday dinner.  She didn't need a lot of presents, she was just wanted to dress up and go out to eat.

This is a characteristically Pepper kind of request.  She is all about the connections.  We said, "yes," of course.

We decided to celebrate a day early so her besties could all join in.  Her friends came right after school and I didn't see the girls for an hour and a half.  But there were a lot of giggling sounds coming from that side of the house.  Suddenly all five of them emerged, coiffed and polished.  Here they are posing with our Bubby whom none of us noticed sneaking into the photo.

Since it was a Friday night, there was quite a wait.  They managed to entertain themselves; I had no doubt.  I was a little worried about the choice of venue since lots of kids don't eat fish, but all these girls did.  I was impressed with their manners and their menu choices. 

After a huge meal, we headed home for presents and cake with Daddy and Grandma.  She seemed to love all her gifts. 

Pepper is a gift to us.  She is big-hearted, smart as a whip and completely creative.  The first time I laid eyes on her, I knew it was meant to be.  15 years later, I am still so grateful she's mine!