Sweet (or Studly) Sixteen

Is it a "Sweet Sixteen" for a boy? Maybe we'll go with "Studly Sixteen" instead...sounds more masculine. :)

Either way, my little preemie baby boy is now 16. It doesn't seem possible!

Our tradition on birthdays is to wake them up with a candle in a muffin (or doughnut in Nick's case) and the rest of the family goes into their room with the candle lit singing Happy Birthday. Then they get to open their presents. As my kids have gotten older, they have started requesting what time they'd like to be woken up on their birthdays and it's getting later and later. :)

We got Nick a bunch of "Freedom Passes" for his birthday, which included a gift card for gas, a gift card to JCW's, a gift card to the movie theater along with a free popcorn and the refillable cups. We also got him a giant box of Fireworks from Costco to do that night...one of his favorite things to do.

The first thing on the agenda after getting up and showered was heading to the DMV. I knew I would have some very mixed emotions at this point! On one hand, I remember how excited I was the day I got my license and I was excited for Nick. On the other hand, I knew it was going to create more worry and anxiety for me. But the biggest positive is that I no longer spend as much time in the car running him around and he can even help get Hailey to and from activities and friends' houses...it has given me many more hours in the week to get other stuff done...hahaha. :)

I will say it was very weird to see Hailey hop in the car with him as soon as we got back to have him take her for a ride...without me! As I watched them drive down the street alone I wanted to put a giant bubble around that car to protect them. It is so strange to experience so many different emotions at once from being so excited to see their joy in experiencing some of these things for the first time but also wanting to jump in a time machine and have them both back in their double stroller with me in complete control of where they're going and being right there with them every step of the way!

We gave Nick a bunch of different options for what he could do to celebrate his birthday but all he wanted was to go with some friends to Tucanos...without parents. We were originally going to rent a limo to take them down but I could not find one that would charge less than $300 and I could not bring myself to pay that much for a ride to Provo. So Brian and I took them down and we ate a few doors down at Bajio while they had their feast at Tucanos.

The gift bag that Masey is holding in the picture above had these little bags in it for each of the kids. I gave it to her right before they headed into the restaurant so she could pass them out when they sat down. I don't know why I only took a picture of the bag and not of the contents but inside were mini licence plates with each of the kids names on them, a rubber wrist band that said "Burd is 16" (I have no idea where it originated from but everyone calls Nick "Burd"), a keychain that says, "Seatbelts On, Cell Phones Off, No Distractions, "Come Home Safe" and some gum and candy.

After dinner they came home, looked at the cake and ice cream...haha...I don't know if anyone had any because they were so stuffed from dinner...and when it got dark they lit the fireworks. Nick said it was the perfect 16th birthday! :)