My 16-year-old, young man & more

Well, I now have a 16 year old! I am a little late but did not want to leave out my oldest child turning 16…that is SIXTEEN!! He got his permit on his birthday! What can I say about Christian: A bright, caring, loving, free spirit. He loves theater and friends. At this stage in the game he is trying to get more freedom but we, as parents, struggle with finding the right mix of what that looks like. It is tough to give up the reigns a bit to a boy that is turning into a young man whom I am VERY proud of!

Pierce looks all innocent and then you see Clara…she looks like she is going to bite your head off! Cracks me up!

A group shot of the cousins!

Love this pic of my Mom taking pics! Having fun!

I also have to add a brag! I finished my 2nd triathlon! I actually placed in the Athena group (big girls over 150lbs). I have signed up under Athena b/c I thought I have had no chance in competing in my age group. Well, this time I would have actually placed 2nd in my age group. That is exciting! It will probably never happen again…LOL! I am hoping to do the next tri in July.

Clay and I actually stayed the weekend all alone for the tri!! Let me repeat myself…all ALONE!!! =) I took the dogs to the daycare/kennel even. The kids stayed with Meemaw and Pawpaw. Cullen went to Taffy & Papa’s house Sat. night b/c him and KK got to go to the Ranger’s game with them. So, again, Clay and I camped Fri & Sat. night just us. It has been a long time since it was just us and it was nice. I enjoyed the brief bit of time just thinking of myself. We went on a 15-mile bike ride Saturday to see what the ride was like for the tri with friends Gina & Clint who were also doing the tri. At the last minute, Clay decided to do the tri also. So all 4 of us headed into town to packet pick up and then head to Academy so Clay could get something to wear in the tri. We then went over to Ghengis Grill and ate. We then had an evening around the campfire before calling it a night. Sunday we woke up to a VERY CHILLY morning for a triathlon in May! It was a GREAT time. We are hoping to pull off another Clay and I camping trip for this upcoming tri in July. It is nice to have a peace of mind that the kids are having a blast and are safe while Clay and I enjoy each other’s company.

We have had 2 great opportunities to celebrate Africa! Friends of ours are in the process of adopting a little girl from Ethiopia. Their friends threw a great Blessing party to inform and help raise funds for their adoption. They had wonderful Ethiopian food and it was quite the experience. The next night our good friends threw an African dinner party last weekend. It was so much fun!! I actually did not get pics of the food…go figure! But we had a blast!! The kids played tug of war, chase African style calling the chaser a lion, played singing games, etc. Sil, a wonderful lady from Ghana, cooked up some great African dishes! Some of the ladies even provided some African clothing. Below are some pics of the fabulous time together.

As you can see a lot has been going on and again I have gotten behind in blogging. Hopefully I will blog again soon!