Jack's Sweet 16

Jack officially turned 16 yesterday! It's been fun watching him grow up into such an outgoing and accomplished young man. To celebrate his birthday, we had a little family party of just us on Sunday evening. He decided that he wanted cake this time. For Sunday, we made a homemade German Chocolate cake. We did things a little out of the norm by singing and doing presents first, then eating homemade smoked chili for dinner and then eating cake and ice cream. We got Jack a wooden puzzle that he can build into an owl clock. He likes doing those and we thought it would be nice to have one that actually has a purpose (clock). Then I was shopping at Goodwill one day and found 4 CD sets of a dramatization of the books for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and they were in excellent condition. Each set was $4. I had been thinking of getting Jack a CD player anyway so he could listen to our old CDs in his room and not have to keep borrowing my phone all of the time for Spotify; now I would definitely have to get him one, so we did. It looks just like the one we got for Garrett, except white colored. We also got him a case of mini sugar free Dr. Peppers for his snack/treat. We pranked him with just giving him one out of the package at first. I don't think he fell for it. 

I messed up on one of his gifts. The Lord of the Rings game that he got for Christmas was an extension. He didn't have the original game yet and so we went ahead and ordered that after Christmas. Jack said he would pay for the extension so he could just keep it but in my mind, I was thinking it could be a birthday gift. Well, he subtracted that amount from money we owed him, and I didn't realize it. We wrapped it up and gave it to him (again). Well, to make up for my blunder, he found something on Amazon that he really wanted, a Viking horn. We weren't expecting it until Friday but it got delivered on Tuesday! 

Anyway, later Sunday night the girls really wanted to play hide and seek in the dark. We gave in and played, except Garrett who stayed in his room to read his book. We played long enough for everyone to have a turn being the seeker. I have to say, I came up with a really good hiding spot on the last round. I finally had to give myself away. Alice was the seeker for that round and I was hiding in the downstairs bathtub. At first, I was just going to stand there and be caught easily, but then I had the idea that I could stand in between the liner and the curtain with my feet inside the tub. The liner was long enough to cover my feet and the curtain is dark enough to hide my silhouette. Alice and Charlotte both tried looking in but couldn't find me. We let the seeker use a red light to look for people, so it's not too obvious. Another good hiding spot was Jack hiding on the chairs under the kitchen table. It was Charlotte's turn to seek that time and she walked by him multiple times. It was funny! We hadn't played that game in a long time, so I'm glad we did. It was a fun way to end the day.

I baked the cake and Curtis decorated it. (It was just a box mix and premade frosting). Thank goodness for our neighbors who had two round pans for us to borrow. We had bought a release pan and found out after we got home that it was not good for batter. It's meant for things like cheesecake.

16 sparkling candles

He was lighting on his own and then Curtis joined in to help speed it up.

I love the look on his face.

There's a smile!

This was Jack opening the single can of mini Dr. Pepper. The girls had fun with putting his gift in a girly bag to be a joke.

His Viking horn that he got two days later.

Building his owl clock. He got it done in one evening.

On Jack's actual birthday, which was yesterday, he was all set to get out of school at 10:30 for early release day for the high schools. Then head over to the DMV to get his driver's license (that we had an appointment for) and then back to our house to have friends over from 12-5pm for his friend's party. Well, all that quickly changed yesterday morning when the weather gave us a light layer of snow and ice, causing the school district to declare a 2 hour late start. That meant that the early release day for the high schools was now canceled and rescheduled for next week. Well, Jack and I weren't happy about that but it is what it is. The boys went to school, but then I picked up Jack to take him to the DMV to get his license and then took him back to school. 

Directly after school, all of his friends walked over or drove to our house for the party, which was basically around 2:40pm. They were going to go until 5:30. A couple friends got picked up at that time but most of them stayed until a little after 6:00. They started the party with opening gifts from friends that brought one. His friend Caleb, who shares his birthday, also had a gift to open from one of the friends. Then they played a few rounds of Secret Hitler. While playing, I laid out a few snacks of carrots and broccoli with ranch to dip, Ruffles cheddar sour cream chips, and fresh mandarin oranges. At about 4:30 I took off to Walmart to grab a couple of pizzas. I did not have room for them in my fridge, so I had to wait until we were ready for them before purchasing. We cooked them up and they ate the pizza. And we quickly lit the candles for the cake, and they sang.  This cake was one ordered from Costco. I have never ordered a cake from them before, but it was good. I'm just glad we went with a small round cake instead of a sheet. I'm also glad I picked it up the day before, so it was one less thing I had to worry about on Wednesday. After dessert, the friends that were left played a few rounds of Signs. Jack and Garrett then had to go to youth group at 7:00.

This big box is a giant Jenga game.

A couple of friends bought him a Pepsi Snuggie. He's not a fan of Pepsi and prefers Coke or Dr. Pepper. These friends like to joke around with each other. Another friend gave him a Southridge shirt because his mom makes shirts. So, he put it on top.

Another friend gave him a princess crown that was popped out of a birthday card. And he showed them his horn while he was at it.

The girls helped me by putting this sign in the yard. I didn't even notice the "R" and "I" were swapped until I took the girls to school this morning.  Bless their hearts. I just laughed with the girls about it this morning. I guess I was more focused on the kids when taking this picture than I was the sign. Ha ha!

Playing Signs

It was a pretty good birthday.

The snow almost ruined our plans, but it turned out just fine. They will be getting together at Eli's house next week right after early release like they usually do to eat and play games. So, they get two parties basically!

Happy birthday Jack!! We love you!

On a side note, Jack drove to youth group with Garrett last night for the first time without a parent. And tonight he drove by himself for the first time to his Choral Fusion practice. It's exciting and nerve wrecking at the same time! But I'm happy for him and this milestone he has reached! He's showing up his older siblings again by getting his license way earlier.