Reggie's birthday party

Reggie invited 7 other boys over for his party.  They gamed for a bit and then went to Deadpool, the PG-13 one.  I didn't like that movie at all and Ainsley had a birthday party to attend so I took her there and Ryan managed the afternoon!  I usually do the birthday parties and its a lot and I was a little happy to hear he thought it was a bit stressful too (glad its not just me) and still not really appropriate.

Cookie day

I flew all by myself to Washington a couple weeks ago for cookie day!!!  What a nice break...can I just say it is so nice to just worry about me!  The weather was very nice on Friday, so it made sense to make my toffee early (last time I made it in the rain, it was a little chewy and I didn't want to risk it).  That night we had a Bunko party at the fire hall and there were so many people there :).  I don't have much luck at that game but it was still fun.  Aunt Pam came up and went too....no beginners luck for her.  Saturday we spent all day making cookies, dozens and dozens.  My mom premade a couple and they were my favorites...Peppermint meringue and whipped shortbread.  I ate a lot while I was there!
I forgot to take pictures but I did get a few of us playing the face game.
The mouth pieces can be a bit challenging and somewhat painful to get it.

Piano recital

Ainsley and Khalif had there piano recital and both did awesome!  Reggie outgrew his teacher and with starting high school we decided to let him play on his own.  Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to happen too much anymore.  He was excited about some new movies coming out and learning their theme songs, so we'll see.

1st Trampoline meet

Ainsley's first trampoline meet was a couple weeks ago and we have a lot to learn!!!  The scoring is so different than artistic gymnastics and the scoring on each event is different.  I got the 101 from her coach afterward, so it makes a little more sense now.  We think she did pretty good and since she was the only one in her age group, she got 1st place on everything.  The group she was competing with was level 1-7 all ages, so she got lots of ooh's and ah's because most of the kiddos were lower level and I guess they don't get to see the upper level routines very often.  She felt pretty good about herself afterward!

Pac 12 Championship Game

Before Apple Cup, Ryan talked about going to the championship game at Levi Stadium in Santa Clara, but got pretty quiet about it after the Cougars lost to the Huskies.  Reggie's friends dad works for Audi and they sponsor the event, so we offered us tickets for the entire family, plus the VIP tailgating party!!!  The younger 2 have never been to a game, so I thought it would be a great experience and it was!  We were hustling to make it to the tailgate party and the Husky band was walking/playing next to us and it was quite impressive.  There's so much energy at college games!

We had all kinds of food to choose from, sliders, churro's, nachos, meat carvings, chili.  We did not leave hungry :).  

We got to the game and found our AMAZING seats...probably the best seats I've been in, BUT we were on the wrong side.  Sitting with a bunch of Utah fans.  The kids heard more f 'bombs than they knew what to do with...good and a bad because that at least meant the Huskies were causing misery.  It was quite entertaining and the kids laughed and laughed.  Khalif was a little uncomfortable with things being so out of control, so he moved over by me and cuddled in his blanket.  He was very annoyed that they would stand up for the whole game and swear for no apparent reason!!!  But, when all said and done, he really enjoyed himself too.  We all had a blast!  Brought me back to my college days....all the band songs are the same :).  Felt good to laugh..which we did A LOT.

The game ended on a bad no call, so the Huskies won and the crowd was booing and I took a little video for us to remember our friends in front (Ryan was buddy, buddy with them, chit chatting it up the entire game...well, until the last quarter when it got a bit intense.  They liked him because he wasn't a Husky!).

15!

Doesn't he look good!  Nothing like a hair cut and shave...What?  Yes, Ryan helped him shave his upper lip and chin!  He just said how weird it felt, but he'll get used to it.  He is now 5'11" and 148 pounds.  He is growing so fast, his knees are bothering him a bit and crack when he goes upstairs.  I hope everything will settle in when he stops growing.  It won't be long until he passes Ryan!

We had birthday dinner when the Rinehardt's were here, so there wasn't too much planned for today and we knew he would want to play on his new gaming computer that he worked so hard for.  He has been saving and working for us since February and combined with his birthday money, he finally ordered his computer on Black Friday.  He is really enjoying how fast and cool it is!
We did go to Timothy's birthday party today and that was lots of fun.  He destroyed his cake and it ended up all over him which is why he doesn't have a shirt on.

 Wasn't that nice that they had a party and cake for Reggie!  Ainsley overheard us talking about his age and she just couldn't get over that he is 15.  She was so surprised...it was very funny!

It is still weird to think of him in high school!  The first trimester is officially over! So far, he has all A’s and squeaked it out in biology with a 90.4!!!! We studied so hard for his final and I’m glad it paid off! He wasn’t so sure after he took it and was a little irritated that the study guide wasn’t exactly like the test but he did great ☺️.  English is still unknown...he had an 89 going into the final.
He also went to work with Ryan for the first part of Monday and Tuesday of Thanksgiving break and spend some time with the engineers at Molex. He seemed to enjoy it but hasn’t said too much. He is growing up too fast!  It is weird to think he'll be moving on to bigger things in less than 4 years.  He is such a great kid with a big heart!  Always wanting to do the right thing...he has a very strong moral compass and it so great to be able to trust him.  I hope he always stays that way.  I never know who to believe if he isn't around....the other two have a ways to go in this area.  He is a gentle soul and its easy to love Reggie!

He is getting quite the sense of humor and its been fun to see him "get" things and develop into a young adult.  Sometimes it isn't so fun....we have lots of screen time battles, but deep down he knows why we have limits and I'm hoping he'll learn to self regulate better in this area.  Its a different world than when we were growing up.  These kids always have access to screens and they see people making money on Youtube and becoming famous just by playing video games.  It is crazy!  He is very techy and someday that will hopefully be a benefit in the workplace.  

Happy Birthday....We love you Reggie!