milestones

Dani turned Sweet 16 yesterday.
Word to the Mommas. When did THAT happen?
Time keeps on slippin' slippin slippin, into the future....

We celebrated Saturday with a princess party. Dani, the girl who has never been a girly girl, wanted a castle bounce house, tiaras, and roses, so we obliged her. What FUN it was! She had a dozen friends over, and they made shish kabobs, bounced 'til they could bounce no more, listened to CD after CD after CD of Dani's own mixes, busted open a pinata and eagerly scooped up the candy, sang happy birthday, oohed and ahhed over presents, sat in the bounce house talking 'til midnight, and generally had a wonderful time.

Sixteen. I could swear I was 16 just a few years ago. Sixteen?? Wow.

Aidan needed new shoes today. We were packing for our trip to Colorado, and I remembered that he'd outgrown all of his shoes at the very end of school. He's been wearing Crocs and sandals all summer, neither of which will do in the mountains. So off we went to Target, where we discovered that he passed sizes 12.5 and 13, and is now wearing a size ONE. He's been waiting for this milestone for a long time, and he had a bounce in his step all day. He was so cute trying them on, and insisted on several tests that each pair of shoes had to pass before he decided. First, he had to be able to get them on easily. (Aidan's flat, wide Fred Flintstone feet make putting on shoes a pain in the rear.) Second, he tried them out on the carpet ANd on the tile to make sure he could still run super fast. And thirdly, he sat "criss cross apple sauce", to make sure the shoes were comfy when he sat that way. Cracked me UP!

Ian's excited for school to start. He announced last week that he wantes to skip Kindergarten and go straight to 12th grade. Methinks it's gonna be a looooonnnnnng school career with this kid! He hasn't even started Kindergarten, and already he's bored with school. In some ways, he's so grown up, but in others, he's still our baby. When he packed his backpack for the car trip to Colorado, the first thing he put in was one of his beloved stuffed wolves. I questioned him, because last year, he accidently left another wolf at the cabin, and the owners couldn't find it. He was devestated! Occasionally throughout the year, he's asked, "Do you think Wolfie is cold? Do you think Wolfie is alone? Scared? Crying?" This time, he says, he'll be extra careful.

So we're off, in about 2.5 hours. Maybe I oughta get some sleep, eh?

Our summer interns are house sitting for us. That's the unexpected bonus of housing college kids for the summer - free house sitting! Have a great week, and think of us up in the mountains, enjoying the cool, dry, mountain air. :)