Marcus turned 14!

Yikes! I have a 14 year old! That went amazingly fast and I know the next 14 years will go just as fast if not faster. Marcus is a great kid who is very creative and loves to have fun. For his birthday this year he wanted to go to Universal Studios instead of having a party. That was fine with us so on his actual birthday we had donuts for breakfast (his favorite) then Bryan took the boys to see Ironman2. Breanna had speech therapy so I took her to that and then we went to the mall, just the two of us girls. She really wanted a pillowpet so we purchased one and I had to stop at Gymboree to see what was on sale. I love that store and all the matching clothes. It makes my heart happy. After a fun time at the mall we came home and so did the boys. Justin and Breanna had Outdoor Explorers at Sienna Ranch in Lafayette so we had a very quiet afternoon to just relax and do what we wanted. My dad picked up Breanna and Justin from the ranch so we took Marcus out to dinner. That was funny. Marcus used his birthday money to get an iTouch so he was on that, I was on my itouch and texting on my phone and Bryan was on his Blackberry. From the outside we looked like a very distant family who doesn't communicate. What those outside people don't know is that we interact with each other all day long every day. Bryan has been home from his job for almost 6 weeks now since his company was bought out. We're enjoying having him home and it's like Saturday everyday. I actually lose track of what day it is and it always feels like the weekend around here. We've adjusted quite well since this is the third time we've done this. The kids and I do school in the morning and then we head out for our afternoon activities every day. Bryan will help with the driving if he's home. He's also been working for another company on a contract basis since while they can't afford to hire him full time. Every little bit helps. Anyway, back to Marcus' birthday. After dinner he wanted to rent Where the Wild Things Are because he wasn't able to see it in the movie theater. That's a very strange movie. We spent the rest of the evening just hanging out taking it easy. Overall a very nice day for everyone. Way less stressful than putting on a huge birthday party at our house. Now Justin will turn 11 in a few weeks and we'll see what he wants to do for his birthday.