Go For It

"Splashing through the mud is fun. You either get stuck and have to get towed out, or you have a lot of fun getting through it. You're not going to know unless you rev up and go."
~ Alex Greenwood

First Day of School 2011 Teen Version

"Alex and I saw each other twice at school today. Once in the morning. He shook my hand and said, 'Nice to meet you.' Then we saw each other in the halls between class. We made crazy faces at each other."
Awesome that they're both at the same school this year, ey?!

Honestly, this picture of them together was the third day of school. The first day, is the picture on the right, but Alex had just gotten out of football and didn't want his picture taken. Aimee had to wear her cheer uniform on the first day for the beginning of the year Mustang Barbeque, in which the cheerleaders perform a skit, a couple cheers, and the swimmers and varsity football players were announced. The second day of school, she had to cheer at a game, and so, had to wear another cheer uniform. Today they have a game, but they can only cheer at one game a week (thank goodness for that rule!!!) so, she is wearing a cheer jersey with jeans. She was THRILLED to be able to wear her own clothes on Wednesday. :)

The Alarm Clock

Alex is at Scout camp this week. Those of us who aren't were awakened by his really annoying beeping alarm. When I realized that everyone else was trying to go about their tasks doing their best to ignore it, I went in to turn it off. (Since we had heard it across the house, you can imagine how loud and irritating it was in close quarters.)
So, being greeted by 3, yes three, separate clocks, I proceeded to try to find snooze buttons and off buttons on each of them, to no avail. The buzzing continued and threatened to irritate the nerves right out of the depths of my soul. Just as I was deciding to find the cords and unplug them all, I found a sneaky little button on one of them. 
Phew.
How that kid can sleep through his alarm I have NO idea!
(In his defense, he ususally does get up... at least to turn the alarm off..)
It must be the sneaky little button...you have to be awake enough to find it, in which case, you won't be falling back asleep.
In morning conversation, it would seem that the girls had both incorporated the alarm into their dreams before giving in to the light. :)

Teens Think They Know Everything

"Just because I won't let you go to an R rated movie on opening night, doesn't mean I'm the meanest mom ever."

"Yeah, it does. And when I grow up, I'm going to buy an $80 shirt too."

How Not To Hit a Pole

When Alex got his license, he got a temporary paper one until his plastic magnetized license came in the mail from Austin. His license finally came. It was in the mail the day after he crashed into a pole.

A pole, no big deal, right? Wrong.

This pole was a heavy metal pole that was. built to be sturdy enough to hold up a 400 pound antique bell on the corner of someone's landscaping. Not only did the pole dent the door, bend the axle, and tear out the drive shaft, that 400 lb bell swung up and dented the top of the car, leaving a hole before slamming back onto the pavement and cracking.

Alex was fine, except for an extreme surge of adrenaline, which made him vomit and refrain from eating for two days.  The Durango is not fine. The Durango is totalled.  It survived my fender bender, when someone tried to turn across my lane to not miss their turn. It survived a rollover in a winter snow storm, well, after a week of body work.  Alex has decided that we cursed it. It is years older and we had the coverage on our insurance down to liability, so we aren't fixing it.

So long, Durango.

Pinata

(This is my third post in one week that includes Alex. Amazing, right?!  Apparently when one is in high school, he's not around enough for mom to take pics of random happenings.) 

Over spring break, Alex was supposed to make a pinata for Spanish class. If he turned it in on the first day back, he would get 10 extra points, otherwise, he could have 2 extra days to work on it. Since Alex has 100% in his AP classes, and would have a 5.0 GPA if only it weren't for Spanish class, he was all over those extra points.  After many hours of drying time, flour/water glue in his perfectly gelled coif, fermented leftover glue, and tons of tiny tissue squares, the chicken was complete.  When he turned it in, he was one of only 3 in his class. The teacher ended up giving everyone an extra week to work on it, and Alex got 30 extra points rather than 10.  He's happy. 

Aluminum Foil Eyes. He had to wrap the foil onto tissue paper, because he discovered that school glue doesn't stick to foil, almost "foiling" his awesome eyes plan.

Black and Gold. School colors. Although their mascot is a Mustang, not a Chicken.

A Little MoJo

Yep.

Sixteen Years and No License

Happy Happy Birthday to my baby Alex!  

For his birthday, Alex really wants to endure great pain of welts and bruises via Paintball, so we're still trying to find out where to go in this area, or if there is a good paintball arena anywhere semi-nearby. No worries. I will share those pictures as soon as I get them.

My little boy is 16!!!  That means driving! Last fall, Alex took Driver's Ed and got his driver's permit on September 16, exactly 6 months before his birthday.  That license lets him drive whenever he wants, as long as he has a licensed driver 21 or over with him. Awesome planning because he has to wait 6 months after that permit before getting his license. It was his grand plan to get it yesterday, right on his 16th birthday on the 16th of March. Pretty cool, right?!

Yesterday, he called the driver's license office at around 11am. No answer. No message. In this little town, we figured that was normal because they end up taking really long lunches around here, and for some reason, that's considered okay, normal, even.  So we waited; he called again, no answer. Guess what? It didn't happen yesterday. Sad right? So his awesome planning was foiled by the license office.

This morning, he called again. No answer. So, he called another office in the courthouse and found out that the license office is closed all week.  I guess they figure no one needs a license on Spring Break. Sad stuff.

But, all was not lost. He still got chocolate cake and new shirts and shorts, and we all know how much Alex loves shorts, no matter the season. He got a new pocketknife because he always manages to get his confiscated. Also,, he got a necklace. Aimee tried to defend it to Dustin, saying it was a guy necklace.  That didn't help. Dustin calls that an oxymoron. LOL So, dad isn't a fan of the necklace, but you know, life goes on.

Bills

Dustin has this wonderful stand-by joke that he does almost every time we get a huge pile of mail. It's from The Jerfferson's or Redd Foxx or something.

"Bill, bill, bill, bill, William, bill, bill."

I still think it's funny. It continues to be something we just...say.

Tonight, he was sorting through the pile (shhh...we didn't check the mail for a few days) and I said it along with him. We laughed; Alex and Aimee laughed.

Allie said, "I think I get it;  oh because William is Bill's brother?"

Joke on!

Hot! Hot! Ooh, We Got It!

Last Friday, the girls had a few friends over for caroling, hot chocolate, and Polar Express. I had originally had a different invite list and turnout planned, but it evolved into this. I really wanted to make homemade hot chocolate with a recipe that I love, but I'm glad I ditched that plan and went with packets. With the guest list, this worked out much better.

Poor Aidan surrounded by girls!

Of course, the girls all played afterward and even had a lovely marshmallow contest...and yes, that would be the teen girs, not the second graders. :)

What's that? You say I have a child missing? Why, yes, I do have another. Alex was trying to get his last drives in for driver's ed. He has now completed the course, and is driving with "a licensed driver over the age of 21" for the next few months while awaiting his birthday!

No worries, he arrived home in time to see Santa give the first Christmas gift (and make fun of the girls' hot chocolate mess).