Look whose 14!

Even though the kids have been on summer break for a few weeks, some longer than others, the kids schedules have not slowed down. Unfortunately (and lucky for us) poor Jordyn injured her knee during cheer leading practice while doing a back handspring. She was fortunate enough to have softball practice right after cheer leading and one of the athletic trainers confirmed she had done a bit of damage to it and was instructed to see an orthopedic the next day. Her diagnosis (thus far - more tests to be ran later this week to fully diagnose her), torn meniscus! So she is not able to cheer or play softball (and here is where the lucky us comes into play) so she was able to make a road trip with her grandma to come and visit us.  Grandma was coming up this weekend to help out as Eric had emergency surgery to remove his appendix on Thursday.

Since Jordyn was able to come this past weekend, Grandma decided to get her a cake and I made her requested birthday dinner of Boston Butt, Mac&Cheese, mashed potatoes, and fresh green beans. Dinner was followed by a cookie, whip cream frosting, chocolate cake, topped with chocolate ganache (sounds and looks gross, but oh my goodness it was delish!) And because we are an obnoxious family the happy birthday song was of course sung 'Reynolds style' (off key, off pitch, different rhythms, and different versions), followed by tons of pictures of everyone stuffing their face! For gifts, Jordyn wasn't sure what she wanted from us, so she decided she'd like to start a savings account, and grandma got her some pink gingham luggage.

Eric made her help light her own cake

Embarrassed by our singing style

Took three tries, but she finally got them all blown out

She really wants to eat cake!

The cake

She wanted the flower, she got the flower

To be an adult

I honestly can't tell you if I am excited or a bit depressed that I have another adult child. Yep it's true! Jarom turned 18...sigh

Most mom's I know dread when their son turns 18, mainly because of having to register for the draft. Me...well I was, I don't want to say thrilled, but I'd rather take that option than Jarom joining the military at age 18. It took a lot of convincing, but he decided to go straight to college instead of joining the air force, HUGE sigh of relief. Now please don't misunderstand, I am all for people serving, heck I think every 18 year old should at least have to go to boot camp. Boy would that change a lot of attitudes and give quite a few of them a huge wake up call...but that's another story/ post that will probably never happen! (At least I am honest)

Since we had to complete his Financial Aid before his 18th birthday, his Selective Service paperwork was already completed and he received his documentation on his birthday, along with quite a few other pieces of mail, a package from his girlfriend Heidi, cards from other family members, and a few pieces of mail from colleges...including one that I hid from him until the next day, the one he really, really wanted to arrive on his birthday because he only wanted one thing for his birthday...an acceptance letter from the University of Washington.

The mail that came...see that one at the bottom?

The mail I gave him on his birthday

I know it's hard to tell in this picture, but that letter that he so desperately wanted and told every person who called or spoke to him on his birthday wasn't the actual gift he had hoped for! Sadly, it was the one thing I couldn't make happen or give him, even if I tried. I was devastated, so much, I cried for him and still do. If you saw the way he lit up as he told everyone "the one and only present I want didn't come today", they would then ask what that gift was and he'd reply "My acceptance to Washington"...and then I would have to leave the room because I would be in tears. With how 'crappy' his senior year has turned into, why or why couldn't he just get this one thing?

Surprisingly, when I did give him the letter the next day...he already knew what was in that envelope based on the look on my face. Believe me, I really did try to give the big smile, positive attitude...but he knew...I was crushed. He did open the letter and it stated that this was the largest amount of freshman applications they had EVER received, over 31,000 applications and only about 6,000 available slots for the freshman class. Still we were both disappointed, it didn't matter what they wrote, it was still a denial.

But just like he has been through this 'crappy' senior year, he turned this rejection into a positive. He had already decided that if for any reason he wasn't accepted to Washington, he knew what school he would chose to attend...but I will save that for another post...that post will happen!

Now back to his birthday...besides that dreaded letter he had asked for 'stuff for college' and steak for dinner. Since I didn't have much notice on what 'stuff' to buy him (there is a completely different I need/ I want list based on what school he was going to attend), I focused on his dinner! I don't want to brag, but it was amazing! Bre and I had gone to the store after getting that dreaded letter and found 3 LARGE steaks, one each for the boys and one for Bre and I to share...with leftovers! We also bought some ice cream, picking out some of Jarom's favorite flavors to add to the stash of flavors we already had at home. We were also going to make either cupcakes or waffles with cake mix, but Jarom wasn't really in the mood for them since we had quite a few other sweets in the house.

Overall, besides me having to excuse myself several times that night to compose myself, I think he enjoyed his day. Sad to think that next year, I will have to make a 'surprise' appearance at his college to celebrate with him.

Look who turned 15!

Poor MyKayla didn't have much a birthday, it poured down rain ALL day long! Early in the day she thought about going to the movies for her birthday, which her and Jarom had chosen Despicable Me 2. But she kept pushing back what time she was going to go to the movies, before she finally decided she didn't want to go. Deep down you could tell she just really wanted to spend time with the entire family. It was so sad to continually hear her ask the boys to play games with her and for a brief moment when the rain and thunder stopped she begged them to go and play basketball with her.

Overall her birthday was lame on all angles. She chose to have homemade pizza, which turned out pretty good, but just like every other decision in this house, she attempted to give everyone their choices of what toppings they would like, which turned into a 30+ minute debate. Finally I made the final decision and MyKayla and I got all the pizzas going...of course NOW everyone wanted to spend time with her because she was cooking her own birthday dinner! She did give in and let the boys help out with the dough (mainly stabbing it to death with a fork).

Homemade pizzas: pepperoni, meat lovers, and supreme

But I have to admit even I was lame when I discovered that my attempt of making her a lame cake out of a box turned out to be an epic FAIL, when I realized at 5:30pm we didn't have a cake mix AND the pizza dough was rising in all my mixing bowls. Usually we take the birthday kid decide if they would like a homemade treat or if they'd like to go to the store (just them) to pick out their birthday desert. Kayla chose to have the brownie mix that was currently in the cupboard along with ice cream we had purchased a few days before.

Keeping the tradition going, everyone sang happy birthday to her 'Reynolds style' aka off key, loud, and at different tempos!

Yes I was even so lame that I only had one candle

Just love how she is so excited to just spend the night with the family

Birthday desert: brownie, mint cookies and cream ice cream, topped with chocolate syrup