Happy 16th Birthday to Nick!

Nick is 16!  

Holy cow!

We celebrated his special day with lots of presents that now consist of clothing, with a sports theme.  Nick chose to go out to dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse.  This was a big deal as he knew he would have to dress up, sweatpants weren't going to pass for this dinner!  He's growing up!

Nick asked me to make his cake, which is our tradition.  I decorated a red velvet cake with a World Cup championship trophy.  He thought it was great.  

At 16 Nick loves to drive, loves all things University of Illinois sports, playing soccer and watching soccer, too.  We've been rooting for the United States in the World Cup.  When it's not World Cup season, Manchester City is Nick's team.  

Nick has had quite a year of growth.  He persevered thru a huge back surgery in the summer and has impressed both of his parents with his strength and determination to get back to his pre-surgery self.  He has a special love for his dog, Ruby and a special place in his heart for his brothers.  It's been a real pleasure to watch him mature this past year, and we are excited to see where this next year takes him!

 Time just keeps marching on.  

Next up, we will have a new licensed driver in our home.  In Indiana 16 and 3 mos. is the earliest age to get a drivers license.

This and that this fall

Ben went on a white water rafting trip with the Boy Scouts in West Virginia at the Ace Adventure Resort in late September. The scouts were up early for an 8 am rafting trip.  Ben brought his Go Pro along and had the best time!  It was fun watching his videos of their trip down the river.  Amazingly they never capsized their raft!   Later in the day after the rafting trip they all had the opportunity to play in the lake on the giant inflatable obstacle course.  They tent camped for 2 nights. Eric and I are so grateful to the parent volunteers with the Boy Scouts that take Ben on these fun trips!

Ben is the 1st kid in blue on the left side of the raft.

With the threat of a heavy frost in mid October, I harvested our garden.  Most of those green tomatoes ripened in time and were eaten.  They were delicious!  Nothing beats a home grown tomato!

We got our first snowfall on November 12th.  Up until then we still had flowers blooming!  Winter is here, ready or not!