Happy 18th Holden

Holden had his 18th Birthday this week (as most of you know - thanks for all the nice phone calls and text messages to him).

He kept worrying that he wasn't going to have a good birthday. We are not sure why. He kept worrying that we weren't really going to do anything for his birthday.

Because you have to apply for your eagle by your 18th birthday, and Holden had not finished the process yet, he had to go meet with some of the had scout guys before we could really celebrate. He got really stressed out too - it's a long story, but basically he almost didn't get his eagle. But here he is in a rare moment wearing his scout uniform (I'm not sure if he's worn it at all since he turned 13 - he kind of ditched this whole look right about then). I think he looks darling, but he has other thoughts about this look.

Right after he meet with the scouts (and after he changed in the car...he loves the uniform that much) we took him to dinner and to open his presents. We took him to a restaurant called "Green" - it's a vegetarian restaurant. Most of you know Holden has been a vegetarian since January. He is still doing it and so we thought we would accomodate him by taking him there. Here is what he ordered:
This is a meatball sub - except it's made from soy instead of meat. And the bread is not regular bread either. And that is not cheese (I forgot to mention it's not just vegetarian, it's vegan), but cheese made from soy. The tomatoe sauce is real.

Actually I was a little worried about eating there but it was fine. And Holden was very happy. Plus I think he liked his gifts - so all was well, scout trama aside.

Here he is with his "Soynami" - Soy ice cream. But his birthday did not end there!

For about a month his girlfriend and I had been planning a surprise party for Saturday. He had absolutely no idea and we managed to pull off a party with about 20 kids and keep him clueless. Here are some photos of him with his cake from his birthday night and his party on Saturday.
















Here is me, super happy to be done with weeks of birthday preparation for two kids! And this year we will be in Mexico for Brennan's birthday so Kirk took him and two friends to an amusement park a couple of weeks ago for his "birthday" so that means we are kinda finished with parties for one more year!




In all seriousness though we were so happy last night that he has such good friends and he is such a great kid. What a blessing he has been to our family for the past 18 years. So once again "Happy 18th!" Holden! We love you!