happy 18th

Yesterday was Jake's birthday. I think he had a nice day. Here's how it went.

Hollee (his girlfriend) came over at 9:15 to wake him up. I have no picture of this, but I sure wish I did. Jake's not such a pretty boy when he first wakes up (who among us is?). And from personal experience, he's usually a little grumpy.

After he gets up and gets himself ready, he made his way downstairs where his mother promptly wishes him a happy birthday.

He and Hollee decide it's time to go and start their fun-filled day.


I know they ate lunch at Wendy's, went putt-putt golfing (where Jake got three holes-in-one), went to the mall, and went to Hollee's house to open his boatload of presents (he got more from her than he did from us)... but I don't have any photographic proof of any of this because the two of them felt no need to take any pictures.

They made their way back to our house around 6:00 because they were hungry and they knew they were getting a free dinner. The birthday boy chose Old Chicago. He opened his presents from us before we headed out.

After dinner we went bowling. We all looked very fashionable in our bowling shoes.


And look at the form of that bowler. You would think her scores would better reflect her near perfect approach to the lane. Now that I look at the form, maybe that's why her scores were so bad =)


But Jake and Hollee look happy. They obviously had better scores.


I have to interject a funny story here...
To show how little Don knew about bowling, it wasn't until we started the second game that he inquired how the scoring went since he was throwing spares and strikes and the numbers just weren't adding up. He was astounded when it was explained to him. How can a person who never bowls and knows nothing about the scoring do so darn good?

As we returned home, we were delighted to watch the lightning show from a large storm going through. Once we turned the corner to our house, we saw a very sad sight. Our little tree in the front yard had snapped and was laying on the ground. We figured either the strong wind from the storm did the damage or someone hooked a rope to the tree and their car and drove across our yard and driveway until it snapped. Probably the first.


We then went inside and brought out the cake I made earlier. Yes, I stick all my professional looking cakes in a plastic container and slap a price tag on it... they taste better that way. We sang happy birthday very quickly because by the time we lit all those cute little candles, half of them had melted into puddles of wax on the cake. I'd suggest not using these candles.


The night ended with Jake and Hollee working on a jigsaw puzzle. They've been doing a lot of puzzles lately. One night they stayed up until 3:00 in the morning because they wanted to finish it - quote, unquote. Ah, to be young again.


As I type this, they have abandoned the puzzle and are snuggling and watching the Late, Late Show. I think all the birthday fun of the day tuckered out my little... um, I mean... big boy out.

Happy birthday my dear, grown-up son. I hope you had a wonderful day. And thank you for 18 wonderful years.