Another Teenager in the House

Big bro, little bro.  Jameson hates wearing ties, vests, or suit jackets to church but last Sunday he put a tie on so he could be like Britton. He took it off before the end of the sacrament, but I'll give him credit for at least trying.

After church the kids decided to make cookies. They don't need me my help anymore so they don't even bother asking for permission.  Adam has successfully passed on his cookie making knowledge and Britton knows exactly how long to bake a cookie to absolute perfection.  In fact, I wish I didn't know how good these cookies are.  I'm not even a cookie person and I will be the first to say these chocolate chip cookies are to die for.

Jenna's birthday celebration - Part 1, cupcakes at Grandma and Grandpa's house on  Sunday evening.

Monday morning brought a "fun" surprise.  Adam was leaving his office to go to a closing when another driver ran a red light and clipped Adam's car as he was turning left with a green arrow.

No one was hurt and the other driver had insurance (for which we are very grateful), but it has been quite a hassle.  It took the insurance company 4 days to come look at it and since it wasn't really drive-able (the bumper was in danger of falling off) Adam had to borrow my parents truck until we were finally cleared take it in and get a rental car in the interim.  The only car available on a Friday at noon was a very large Ford Explorer so I guess we get to see what it's like to drive a big white suburban with New York license plates for a week.  

Jenna's birthday was on Wednesday but we had a full evening schedule this week so on Monday we turned FHE into a family birthday party at Charlie's.  Jenna LOVES ice cream so there is no better place to celebrate her birthday (Part II) than to get delicious shakes from Charlie's.  

Jmo was pulling all sorts of funny faces.  He was clearly in his happy place surrounded by so much ice cream and sugar.

"Mom, this is my batman face."

Happy Birthday Jenna!

By the time it was actually Jenna's birthday we had already been celebrating for days.  As per tradition Adam took her to breakfast and she chose Angie's for the 2nd year in a row.

That night it was Jenna's celebration- Part III.  We had her favorite pesto pasta for dinner and then opened presents before eating donuts from Johnny O's.

The rest of the family watched "Return to Oz" for her final party of the week while I took Britton to his orchestra concert at his school.

It's fun to hear how much they have improved.  This is Britton's 5th year in orchestra and he really loves it.

Friday was the 4th Grade Geography Bowl and Korinne worked really hard to learn the geography of our valley, state, world and other general geography terms.  The Geography club meets about 3 times a week before and after school for 2 months studying for the Bowl.  I really love that a parent volunteer puts this together every year because the kids learn so many things that they would never have time to learn otherwise.

There were more kids that participated in Geography club this year than ever before. They had 3 teams of 8 students.

Korinne's team named themselves the "Unicorn Utes"

If their answer was correct they lifted up their white board to be counted.

It was close but Korinne's team came up with the win.  Good job Unicorn Utes!

Korinne receiving a certificate and a king size symphony bar from the school Principle.

We're a getting a little taste of spring and a lot of our snow is melting.  Now that I can see the end of winter in sight I must say I'm definitely getting a bit of spring fever.