BIRTHDAY BOY!

Brit turned 17 last week... 17! I know!!! It's very strange to be the mom of a grown up man-child. He is much stronger than me, he has this kind of mystery about him that is so not little kid anymore. AND, he has a girlfriend!

We kept asking Brit what he wanted to do for his birthday this year and he kept saying he didn't want to do anything. He just wanted to hang out with Sarah (girlfriend). Brit is a pretty straight-forward kind of guy so when he said low-key, we knew he meant it. Sarah, on the other hand doesn't know Brit as well as we do, and had other plans. She asked me to get involved, and while I would never go against Brit's wishes all by myself, I felt like it was safe to participate as long as I blamed Sarah for it. At noon while he was in class Sarah and some accomplices did this to his room:


and this

the crew


Later, after Sarah lured him away for a few hours, we got ready for her next surprise...

The guests began arriving for his surprise party

then the birthday boy came home

and everyone had fun playing games and eating junk food


Except the cake wasn't junk food. It was vegan. Because that was the one thing Brit did request for his birthday... A vegan cake. And bonus, it was really yummy!


Happy 17th birthday Brit! I hope it was the best yet. You're still my favorite boy. Love, Mom.

PROM

Brit had his first prom this past weekend. When you homeschool, things work a little differently, including prom. We are lucky to have a family who is willing to organize and sponsor a homeschool prom each year. We are unlucky that they live in the south end of Utah Valley, therefore it's a long drive. Attendance is open to all homeschoolers aged 14 to 18, and, it's a no date event. Suggested dress is Sunday best to black tie formal with all kinds of restrictions about sleeve and dress length (hey, it's homeschool, we have to at least try to cling to the "Gentlemen Broncos" stereotype!). Another difference at the homeschool prom is that "appropriate lighting and music" are observed, and the kids all have dance cards to fill. This year was a Shakespeare Ball so the first 1/2 hour was spent teaching the kids a few Olde English dances. I was super excited when Brit decided he wanted to go to prom this year. I had it all planned out for the whole family to drive to Mapleton, take a couple of Brit's friends along, chaperone, watch the fun... Brit had other ideas. He wanted to take a date (cuz he's a rebel like that), and he wanted to ride with his friends. Sniff, sniff. Not only was I staying home, he was driving with a bunch of other teenagers all the way to Smalltown, Ut., AT NIGHT!

One of the other moms suggested a progressive dinner before the dance (I'm sure she had my crushed feelings in mind), so we had two couples over for appetizers and salad.



Soon the kids were off to Aura's house for dinner and a few games before leaving for the prom. I forced a couple of pics before they could get out the door...

Brit and Sarah

Don't they look adorable?

Aura and Brandon


Group photo


Aura was a great driver (despite my irrational fears) and brought my little boy back to me. Brit said he had a great time, met some new friends, and even danced...a lot!

WHO ARE THESE CHILDREN AND WHY DO THEY KEEP CALLING ME MOM?

Today this kid, this 15 year old kid kept bugging me about how he's done all his studying, and now he's ready to take his tests for his Learner's Permit so he can start driving me to the grocery store, or on short trips around the neighborhood. This is not my child, no, because there's no way I'm old enough to have a kid who will be driving ME around! But he kept on bugging me, and so to prove to him that he was crazy in the head, I took out his birth certificate and showed him that HE was born in 1993. Ha! See, that means he is only 1,2,3,4,... well it still can't mean he is 15. Because there is just no way I am old enough to have a kid that age! And he said as long as I was looking at his birth certificate I may as well get out his social security card cause we were gonna need that too... later when we went to the DMV. He said he learned all about what he'll need to bring to get his Learner's Permit. So now he's a Mr. Smarty Pants too! So I said, "Fine, we'll go all the way down to the DMV, and we'll stand in all those lines, and we'll show them all your papers, and then you'll see that I can't possibly be your mother because I'm just not old enough to be a 15 year old, Mr. Smarty Pants' mother."

So we went all the way to West Valley City to the Driver's License Division, and we filled out the papers, and we stood in line to get our number, and then we waited again to be called up to our window again, and then we waited while the kid took his tests. And you know what they told me? I AM old enough to have a 15 year old kid who, now, can legally operate a motor vehicle with me, a licensed parent in the front passenger's seat!

And he was pretty excited that he passed his tests and got his temporary permit. And he was all smiles even when I MADE him stand out in front of the Driver's License building, holding up his permit so I could get pictures of it. He tried to get out of it, he pointed out that none of the other moms were torturing their kids this way. But all the other moms WERE old enough to have kids that age!



Congratulations Brit! And... for the record... I am so proud and grateful to be your mom.