We Have A Teenager Here!

So, can you tell the theme of this years’ birthday party?

Hawaiian!

The party was really fun. Some of Nikki's friends from our homeschool park day came. It was fun to watch the girls and their weirdness. Strange to me to have an official teenager in the house now! She is so much different than she was 6 months ago. How are we going to have this girl ready for adulthood in the next 5 years? It just isn't possible.

It's All Coming Together

THAT is a picture of my boys putting away the dishes out of the dishwasher! I asked them if they could do it and they ran off all happy to help. I heard them in there working together so I had to slip in and take a picture. Too cute! They both got a quarter for being so eager to help.

Our Field Trip to Logan's Candy

On Wednesday we went to a candy store in Ontario where they make candy canes by hand! A big ol' THANKS to Pia from CHN's Yahoo Group for arranging all of it. It was awesome. If you are interested in the place, go check it out. They don't have a website, but they are located in Ontario, CA on B street. We got there an hour early, so we walked down the center of Euclid and looked at the Nativity Scene's they have out. It was fun, but a little sad. They look poorly taken care of and I wish they would have been in chronological order. But it was fun to look at them all and think about the people that took the time to create them. The boys were a bit wild since it was getting near bedtime so it was hard to be reverent!   Once we got to the candy store we stood out front waiting for our tour. Jake made a friend right away. It was adorable watching them compare ages, bikes, scooters, and eventually height. The tour itself is not a tour, but a demonstration of how they make their candy canes. It was a fabulous experience. It was crowded, but they made it very enjoyable and really took care of their audience. They went through the whole process, from boiling the sugar, adding color and flavor, to wrapping the candy and rolling it out to candy cane size. We got samples, humor, and even a bit of candy cane history. I was amazed and so was Tom. Jake couldn't see much because it was so crowded and the other kids were pushing him up against the counter which he couldn't see over. I didn't realize this until afterwards when he came and told me. Poor guy! But he was happy since he got a candy cane.