ryan's eagle court of honor

Ryan and these 4 other boys -- Jason, Tyler, Ryan, & Morgan -- all received their Eagle Scout Award on Sunday evening.  We were able to have a presenter bring a live golden eagle to the court of honor.  It was pretty awesome!

 Ryan with his scoutmaster, Brother Hahn.

soccer

Jacob has found his sweet soccer spot -- goalie!  He discovered that he's a really good goalie when his coach put him into that position on a game day when the other two kids who usually play weren't there.  He did awesome and has been playing that position ever since.  In the past I've gotten especially nervous for my kids when they've played that position, worrying that if a ball got past them, they'd feel bad or the team would get upset at them.  It's been different with Jacob.  I get excited when he plays that position and only a little nervous.  He has been good so far about not getting down on himself if something gets past him, and hopefully it stays that way.  Until he started playing goalie, he wasn't that interested in playing soccer again in the fall.  Now, he's thinking he'll try another year.

sweet 16

Jared is 16!  Wow - he really is growing up so fast.  He's officially old enough to drive with a license (but doesn't have one yet) and old enough to date.  Whoa!  Thank goodness we take things one step at a time.

For being one of those "milestone" birthdays, we celebrated pretty quietly.  It was a school day, so he was up early as usual.  He got unlimited bacon and Crispix cereal for breakfast -- his favorite.  He had an ordinary day of school and homework and then we celebrated as a family around a favorite dinner of rigatoni and breadsticks, topped off with ice cream sandwiches.  He opened presents from his brothers and Mark & I gave him a CTR ring.  He was hoping he'd get a car for his birthday, but that definitely didn't happen!  The other thing he wanted for his birthday was to see Iron Man 3.  Mark & I bought tickets for him and three of his friends -- Jordan, Jason, and Derek-- to see it.  They had a great time!  Jared is now old enough to be ordained a priest, so that took place on Sunday afternoon after church. I'm proud of the young man that Jared is and I love watching him grow physically, mentally, spiritually, and in so many other ways.  Love you so much, Jared!  Happy Birthday!

"best birthday ever"

Those were the words exclaimed by my Matthew boy yesterday!  It makes a parent feel good.  But really, what wasn't there to like about his birthday?  He got his very own DS, new shin guards, ninjago legos, new clothes, money, candy, and a couple other toys.  His birthday cake was a DQ ice cream cake with ninjago lego guys on top. Gotta love it!

 He also got to have a little party.  I took Matthew and three of his friends - Cameron, Jack & Sam - to the trampoline park and then to get ice cream cones at Arctic Circle.

 

Happy Birthday Matthew!  Love you so very much!