Tristan is a Teenager!

Well, the big day came and went. I am finding it hard to believe that my "baby" is 13!! I wonder where the time really goes! Seems like almost yesterday that I was nursing him CONSTANTLY and learning how to do the macarena with Regis and Kathi Lee (while nursing him constantly!)! By the way, I still can't do the macarena!

His birthday was actually yesterday, but we celebrated it on Sunday with the family. We did what we usually do for the summer party--grilled burgers and dogs. I was hungry for homemade ice cream too. T always wants brown sugar peach-but I had convinced him that I hadn't seen any ripe peaches yet this year. So I got the stuff to make a very complicated but YUMMY vanilla ice cream. I did find some peaches at Walmart and then felt guilty, so I bought them and made 2 kinds. I know, you're thinking Martha Stewart, right Bambi?? They were good! Grandma always makes the cakes. She put on a pyrite (fools gold rock), drew a 4-H clover, and put on pictures of a football and a basketball--with a jersey and the number 13. How clever! He loved it! He asked for money for his birthday, and recieved plenty! He was pretty excited and can't wait to shop next week when we head out on vacation. Grandma also has a habit of getting little gifts for all the kids not having a birthday. You'll notice the kids tearing into their sacks. They love the little trinkets everytime. J's brother has been here from Houston with his family and we have been enjoying their company. We went over to Granny's after the party to light off her fireworks. She has been having her brother bring an assortment of crackers for the last few years. It has become the routine to enjoy those everytime Joe and Lisa come!

Grandma gave Tristan this photo above--it is called "The last ride" He had seen in her stash of stuff when they were hunting some reloading supplies for J. He asked her if he could have it and she told him he couldn't--you can imagine his delight at opening that up! We'll need to find the perfect place on his wall for it when we finish with the fair stuff.

Speaking of fair stuff. Holy cow--Are we ready for this to end. Today we did the baking. OH MY! For the last few months when the boys cook, I just do kitchen stuff and they mind themselves and do fine. This morning was AWFUL. Not only did they need to fight most of it, they weren't paying attention--and neither was I--and we ended up making both bread recipes twice. I actually didn't pay much more attention the second time around, but they did! 8 loaves of quick bread later, they had something. One of J's good clients came up this evening to drop off a pickup--and a sack full of garden goods, so we sent HIM home with 2 loaves of bread and a plate full of cookies. Now we are ready for the fair. We take everything tomorrow, so hope to be able to blog tomorrow evening about the results. We are also headed back to Granny's tomorrow night to watch some old movies that Grandma had made YEARS ago--that even have grandpa Ed's folks in them--so that will be fun to see.

It's been over 105 every day for a week now. Am watering the soup out of everything I can. Wow--did I mention that I love summer?? Am ready for fall and pumpkins though any day!