Happy 16th Birthday Griffin!

On October 14th, we celebrated Griffin's 16th Birthday! Holy cow, we have a teen driver. Everyone always says that time flies but it really does! I can't believe he is old enough to drive.

We moved the day before his birthday(whole other post for THAT lol) so we didn't party until this past weekend. We did our usual family dinner on his actual birthday, Japanese was his choice! This weekend he invited friends and family over to hang out, eat pizza, watch football and eat cookie cake! My kinda easy peasy party!

I'm not sure if I posted or not about his car. Probably not. We bought him a car back in June so that he could get some get practice on it before hitting the road alone. It turned out to be the best thing. He can drive it much easier than mine or Josh's vehicles so it worked out well. He was completely surprised when we gave it to him which made me SUPER happy. Surprises are my fav!

Since his birthday was on a Sunday we had to wait until the next day to take him for his driving test. I took him first thing that morning and he passed with a 93! YAY!

Spring Formal and Prom!

Yea, I don't know why they have BOTH of those either! Maybe because Prom is just for Juniors and Seniors and Formal was open to the whole school?

Back at the beginning of March Griffin's school had their Spring Formal. He went with a friend and said to me, "We are JUST friends. I don't have time for girlfriend drama." That's a DIRECT quote. He had a fun time!

THEN, just a few weeks later I noticed a senior girl was hanging around a good bit. He said they were just friends. And they were but they sure hung out a lot! It was fine with us because she's a sweet girl and she goes to our church so we weren't forcing him to go to church! haha! One night he mentioned something to me about prom and not being able to go. I asked him why he couldn't and he said because he is a freshman. I told him that he could go with a junior or senior as their date. Within five minutes NO JOKE those two were going to prom together. #facepalm

They went to prom which was WAY different than when we went. As in, they took pictures, changed clothes, went to the movies, went to chick-fil-a, changed back into prom clothes and then went to prom! What? And I picked him up from prom so there was no after partying. haha!

Since then those two have become an item. So, we have our first teenage girlfriend. Yikes! It's been kinda hard on him because we have a no-dating until you are 16 rule! He's not allowed to go anywhere with her as in with her driving. They meet at the movies some, they see each other at school, she comes to Brooks' baseball games and they see each other at church! Just so y'all know I haven't lost my mind! haha!

Happy Birthday Griffin!

On Saturday our Griffin turned 15! I can't believe time has flown by so fast. Sheesh. We celebrated on Saturday with lots and lots of friends and family. We had a big bonfire and hung out, watched the game, made hot dogs and smores and ate cake! It was a fun night!

And then today this happened...

Anyone want to tell me how I have a kid old enough to drive??? 

 Only one picture to share from the party because teenagers don't have time for grown ups! haha!

Happy Birthday Griff! I'm so excited to have my own personal chauffeur!

Another Broken Bone

I think it goes without saying that life is always crazy at our house. Always. We have been SUPER busy since school started back!

On the day that school started back Griffin and Peyton got into a fight outside(at home) with each other. Whether they were horsing around or actually throwing punches I don't know. I'm sure the latter. They are teenage brothers who are 15 months apart and this happens.

A few days later Griffin came to me and showed me his swollen hand. The top of his hand was pretty swollen. Side note: They were horsing around in one of our hotel rooms in China and Griffin hit his hand on a door and it was swollen up the same way it was this time. It was fine a few days later(We weren't about to do anything about it there unless it was REALLY bad.) so we thought it would be ok. He could move all of his fingers and wasn't in any pain at all. But he has a really high pain tolerance so...

We gave it a few more days and decided to have it x-rayed. If you recall, when he broke his foot to pieces almost a year ago I just KNEW from the get go it was broken and lost my mind with guilt a few days later when we found out it was broken. I didn't feel that way AT ALL this time so I grabbed Griff and off we went to the doctor and I fully expected them to tell us it was not broken. They did the x-ray and a few minutes later the doctor came in and told us it was broken and displaced. My jaw was on the floor. We failed AGAIN. When the doctor left the room tears filled my eyes and Griff was like, "NOOOOOOOOOOOO...I am FINE! It's fine. I'm ok.!"

We paid a visit to his orthopedic surgeon yesterday who walked in the room and was like, "DUDE what now!?" So, tomorrow he will have surgery to place pins. Sigh.

We also talked with the doctor about him breaking another bone so soon and he thinks it's just bad luck. Since all of his breaks have been cause by something high impact. I agree.

It's the middle finger, in his hand.

 Say a prayer for him please! At least he isn't on crutches this time! :)

Griffin's Birthday Party!

I'm behind, again. A few weeks ago we hosted Griffin's birthday party at our house. There were a million places he wanted to have his party but when you have a broken foot, it's kinda hard to do anything. We did the best we could and he had a wonderful time!

We planned a big bonfire like we did for his party last year. However, we are in a severe drought right now and we couldn't have a fire! We used  a small propane fire pit that we have so it all worked out fine! We were able to cook hot dogs and smore's on it so everyone was happy!

Happy Birthday Griffin!

Today our Griffin is 14! How he is this old I have not a clue! Sheesh, time flies!

Here he is on his third birthday! Oh my heart!

I love his funny, goofy self!

Life for Griffin lately has been eventful and boring at the same time! Having a broken foot leaves you pretty immobile! It's been six weeks since he broke it and he is still not allowed to bear weight on his foot. He got the pins out last week! YAY! And was put in a boot but he won't be able to use the foot for another week or two, hopefully!

I love you Griffin! I hope you have a wonderful, wonderful birthday!!!

                                

Our First Broken Bone(s)

Well friends, we have experienced our first broken bone with our kids. And, of course, we can't do anything simple so it's actually THREE broken bones.

Last Thursday, when the boys arrived home from football practice Griffin was limping. My heart sank. He said another child fell on it at practice but that the trainers thought it was just sprained. My mommy heart thought otherwise but the hubs and I decided to give it a day or so. The next day my poor baby went to school and hobbled around all day. I decided if he wasn't WAY better the next day we were having it x-rayed. Saturday rolled around and it wasn't better so Josh took him to the doctor. I stayed at home with the other kiddos because we are working on switching Brooks and Reece's rooms! After about an hour and a half I text the hubs to check in and he sent this back...

It would be safe to say I had a complete come-apart. Like, it was bad. The other three kids came to my rescue and were super sweet and calmed me down. I know it's not my fault but if I would have listened to my mommy instinct he wouldn't have walked around for two days like that. SO MAD AT MYSELF!

But, he thinks it's cool...

On Tuesday he had surgery. They placed a few pins in his foot that will stay in for about a month and then they will come out. Ouch. Let me tell you how tough this kid is. Before the surgery, he had NO pain medication...he was in NO PAIN. Blows my mind. And, even since surgery, he doesn't complain hardly at all. He is such a trooper and we are so proud of him!

This was us post-surgery..just hanging out and having a Netflix day! Love my Griff!

Time for Football!

Man. I'm feeling old today. Griffin and Peyton have their first football game tonight!  I'm nervous and excited and freaking my freak. I'm terrified, really. They have been practicing since May, so hopefully they are prepared. Yes, all summer. In the 975 degree heat.

Our school is not very old, so the football programs are very young. I could care less if we win any games(of course I want them to win, for their sake) I just don't want them to get hurt. I hope they learn to love the sport and take all their frustrations out on the field! ha!

Please excuse their hair and sweaty-ness! This was right after they got home from practice last night and I was all like, "OH MY GAHHHHHH, look at y'all in your jersey's!!!!" Followed by lots of eye rolling and, "DO NOT PUT THIS ON INSTAGRAM!" haha! These two make me laugh everyday! :)

Back to School!

The kiddos went back to school today! Griffin is in 8th grade, Peyton is in 7th grade and Reece is in 3rd grade! She's all, "When I'm in 5th grade, Brooks will be in Kindergarten!" STOP IT!

Most moms are all  But, I'm all  I used to be in that other mom club. But every year I love summer more and more. It's those couple of months that we get to hog our kids all to ourselves and not have to share them with school. We do what we want and we don't have to be responsible!  Plus, this is Griff's last year of middle school. Boo to THAT! My kids are the bomb diggity and I miss them already!

Camp McDowell

Griffin and I spent three days last week at the Camp McDowell Farm School!! The farm school is new to Camp McDowell, it’s only been there about a year. We arrived on Monday around lunch and got settled into our cabins…girls in one, boys in the other! There were only 7 girls on the trip so it really wasn’t bad at all! After settling in we ate lunch and then got right to work! The first thing we did was plant some red cabbage in a raised bed. After planting we took a tour around the farm to visit the animals! That night we went on a night hike. In the woods. With NO flashlight…nothing! We hiked and fell down a steep hill and ended up in a cave! It was super cool…we were behind a waterfall…and there were GLOW WORMS in the cave! SO FUN! The next day we had farm chore duty! As in, milking the goats, feeding the goats, feeding the hogs, chickens and everything else! It was fun but it was work! That afternoon we spread several tons of gravel to make a new drive area close to the barn. And by we I mean everyone but ME! haha! The next day we had a farm to table class where we picked things from the garden and cooked. It was fun but I was BEYOND ready to come home!!

I’m very thankful for one on one time with my Griffin!!

This is Sandy! SHE LOVES ME!  See? Oh yea, and we made our own butter and popped popcorn on the campfire and when the two came together….HOLY!