Connor's 15th Birthday

On Wednesday, March 2nd 2022, Connor turned 15 years old. Andrea had been planning and working with him so he'd be prepared to get his permit on his birthday and she went with him before school to the tax collector's office and DMV. Thankfully Andrea is very organized and they had everything they needed, so it was a nice smooth process. 

After school, Connor had a tennis match and unfortunately he didn't play his best, so that was a bit of a bummer on his birthday. On the way home, I took Connor to a church parking lot and he practiced driving the car for the first time. We spent quite a while just setting up the seats, mirrors, and familiarizing him with everything. He went fairly slowly around the parking lot and practiced putting the car in drive and reverse, going in and out of parking spots. He wasn't all that interested to drive much more and I think he was pretty tired after a long day of school and tennis so we didn't spend a lot of time on it, but he did a good job driving safely and his first experience driving went well.

Grandpa and Grandma Come Over for Connor's Birthday Celebration

On Tuesday evening, the night before Connor's birthday, Grandpa and Grandma came over to give Connor his birthday gift and to celebrate his birthday together. They gave Connor the option and since Connor hates to go out for meals he asked for them to bring Chipotle to the house. After dinner we sang "Happy Birthday" to Connor and then ate Krispy Kreme donuts. We considered playing some games, but Connor isn't a big game player and instead we watched Paige present her Bahama school project and talked.

Paige the Independent Woman

With Andrea out of town this past weekend, Paige decided to do some things independently around the house. She's been fairly consistent about keeping her room cleaner and making her bed recently which was one of her New Year's resolutions. Andrea's been working on teaching the kids how to do their laundry and Paige did all of her laundry on her own this weekend. I took her to "Main Squeeze" for a smoothie as a reward. 

On Sunday we were trying to think of something for lunch and decided to go to Publix to do some shopping and see if there was anything Paige could cook on her own. I got a sub sandwich for myself and Connor. While I was waiting on the sandwiches, Paige looked up a recipe for chicken fettuccini alfredo and began picking out all the ingredients. When we got home, I ate my sandwich while I supervised Paige's cooking. She made it mostly from scratch and had three different burners going to do her sauce, the noodles and the chicken. I helped her drain the hot water from the noodles, but otherwise she did everything else herself and said it turned out great. She is such a competent and independent person!

Andrea Visits Michelle and Tara in Satellite Beach

On Saturday, Andrea drove to Satellite Beach to visit her friends Michelle and Tara, who moved there recently. Although they are long time tennis buddies, Andrea didn't bring her tennis gear and decided to have a relaxing visit walking on the beach and just catching up with her friends. She had a fun time on her visit and I was proud of her for taking the Tesla on her own and managing the Supercharging and the road trip independently.

Paige and Millie Mae Play Basketball Together

 

Paige was shooting some hoops the other day with Millie and I took a few pictures and a video before finally telling Millie to go inside. She gets super excited and has fun, however she barks constantly while chasing the ball so we can't let it go on for too long or the neighbors will hate us.

Millie Mae Hard at Work with Shawn

 

Millie Mae spends a lot of time with me lately and keeps me company when I'm working. I have a little pull-out board on my desk and I bought a little bed that fits it perfectly. Millie likes to sit on it sometimes when I'm working as it keeps her close to me and also gives her a nice view out the front window. Andrea snapped a pic of us the other day while we were hard at work together.

Connor's First High School Tennis Match

Last week Connor played in his first high school tennis match. It was a home game and Andrea and I both went to cheer him on. The team they played against didn't actually have a JV team, so although Connor's on JV they played against varsity players and upperclassmen in some cases. Connor played line one singles and was a bit off overall and didn't play his best. His opponent was older, taller, and he hit a strong forehand. Connor was competitive and I think if he was playing his best he had a good chance of winning, but it didn't go his way. 

Connor played doubles with Quinn after his singles match and although he played better, they didn't win the match.