Hailey Loves Brownies!

I'm not talking about the kind you eat (although she does love those too) - I'm talking about being a Girl Scout (or at her age they call it Brownies). 

She sold 156 boxes of Girl Scout cookies (thanks to you all) and her goal was 100 so already she's doing very well in the sales department. She helped her troop raise more than $1200 dollars due to cookie sales (she did have one friend who sold over 200 but her mom is a realtor so I'm sure she gave them to all of her clients!). Still pretty magnificent. 

Hailey really loves the monthly meetings. Last month, they got together and had pen pals at a nursing home they wrote to and then created these little stuffed animals called snuggle bunnies for them. 

They've done fitness workouts together (definitely not her favorite meeting - but I was there as moms were invited too on a Saturday morning and it was a hard boot camp that I didn't enjoy either!). They've made mini gingerbread houses during the holidays and done nature scavenger hunts too. She had to miss the Halloween window painting due to soccer (which she still is very bummed about) but looks forward to the next meeting where they get to go to the local bank and learn about money management. She decided to miss soccer for that one! 

So glad both my girls enjoy(ed) Brownies/Girl Scouts. Peyton's time was cut a little short due to COVID but they did what they could outside when things opened up again and had a nice little goodbye ceremony at the end of 5th grade to wrap up their years as a Girl Scout. She also got to enjoy a few Girl Scout summer camps over the years. Maybe Hailey will too. I loved it all - camp, meetings and troop camping - when I was a kid and am grateful that my girls and I share that experience. 

Snuggle Bunnies (Hailey bottom right)

Gingerbread Houses (Hailey back row to the right)

Happy Valentine's Day!

A few weeks ago when I was in Costco, I noticed some heart shaped Raviolis and thought they'd be perfect for Valentine's Day. Peyton especially loves the Shamrock raviolis that we get from there for St. Patrick's Day and I think it's kind of a nod to my Italian and Irish roots. 

So this time I thought we'd switch it up and go from having heart shaped pizzas on Valentine's Day to having some Valentine Ravioli. The girls loved it - Austen not so much. He's not a big fan or ricotta cheese. He doesn't like Lasagna or Raviolis or really a lot of cheese at all. He does okay with the mini tortellinis as there isn't much cheese in there but anything with a lot of cheese and he instantly turns up his nose. So he ate a few with his meatballs and then went upstairs to finish his homework. Peyton went to swim practice so that left just me, Tom and Hailey to make some Valentine's cookies. 

I had made the dough during the day so it had time to refrigerate and then Tom started rolling out and cutting out cookies that we christened with pink and red sugar crystals or frosted with pink icing once cooled. 

The girls once again loved the cookies while Austen's comment when he finally returned to the kitchen was, "I thought you made chocolate chip cookies? I don't like sugar cookies." Jeez, I guess he's not going to be a very good Valentine for someone in the future! 

Driving!

Last week, our 15 year old ventured to the Department of Motor Vehicles to get his driving permit. He's been enrolled in drivers education classes since mid- October now but has only done the classroom work. He attends every Sunday and says its sooo boring. But he's almost there - only four more classroom sessions to go (one regular session with three make ups due to soccer games) and then is on solely to the driving portion so we really needed to secure that permit ASAP. 

Drivers Permit - Pass!

First, we needed to book an appointment with the DMV to secure the permit so he could start his 8 hours of driving with an instructor (two per month) and complete that by the state deadline of mid-July. (Let me just say that having an appointment with the DMV was way easier than any previous DMV experience. I hope that continues after COVID!) Once we arrived, after some document verification, he had to take an online test which he did little to prepare for (mostly because I sprang that appointment on him after he came home from school one day). He did, however, do a few practice tests in the car on the way there. But I'm sure he was super nervous especially after he told me he got the first question wrong and started to panic but then righted himself and passed the test. He came out smiling with permit in hand. 

The permit allowed me to book his in-person driving lessons since he's completed the majority of his classroom work. We've had a lot of snow recently so he was really reticent about me booking him a driving lesson in the snow. He also didn't want me to schedule anything when it was dark out. Then he just plain admitted that he wasn't ready to drive yet. I knew he just needed to do it to see that it wasn't that hard so I booked an appointment for last Saturday. He was super nervous so Tom did a little driving with him about 30 minutes before his lesson and said he did well but they didn't hit any major roads. Well, right off the bat, the driving instructor took him out on the major roads. He had to turn right on red on a major road with traffic. Austen gives it some gas and guns it. The driving instructor asks him what kind of car he was practicing on and Austen replies, "My dad's Porsche." To which the driving instructor says, "well, that makes a lot of sense then. Just slow down on your turns." Despite his lead foot on the turns, he got a good report and is excited about driving now that he shook off the jitters. He's still a little hesitant about driving at night (his vision is beyond perfect so not sure what his concern is) but I feel like once he does that he'll wonder why he made such a big deal about that one too. 

As for me, I'm looking forward to having one more driver in the house but I know that with that comes some worry too (and expense!).