Many Happy Returns of the Day Tom!

Sunday was Tom's birthday and we did our best to make it the most fun, most relaxing and happiest day of his year. Not sure we succeeded but it was a damn good day.

We had a few key gifts planned (new book and new camera lens) and football games to watch.

Thankfully the Vikings kicked some butt and won. Then, in an extra bonus overtime, so did the Packers!! (ok, not sure Tom's excited about the Packers winning but I am!!)

I also mowed the lawn so that he could enjoy the game uninterrupted (wife of the year, I know...)

He was able to go to the club and work out and... had the dinner of his choice.  Lamb chops, creamy risotto and fresh green beans. I was in charge of the beans and risotto (my specialty) and he did the lamb. Needless to say it was amazing and I stumped him with my secret risotto ingredient. He couldn't figure out what it was but Kay did on 1st bite (spoiler alert, sr cream in risotto adds extra creaminess and bit of bite that the lamb needed)

Then we compared favorite stories from the year and our favorite birthdays.

Tom's favorites from the past year....
~ Him going back to work full time
~ Tracy getting a new job
~ Jimmy getting his drivers license
~ Kay getting 2nd in regionals on beam
~ Billy getting 2nd in nationals in sparring

Overall a pretty damn impressive year.

On the subject of favorite birthdays, he picked some classics ...
~ his 40th complete with a new fishing boat, photo shopped pictures from high school with Tracy in each one and staying up with friends and family until 4am
~ Jimmy's 5th birthday in Bangalore when everyone came dressed as spider man
~ Kay's 11th birthday and the live auction (enough said...)
~ Billy's 3rd birthday where he had a Cars cake and wouldn't let anyone touch it, he loved it too much
~ Tracy's most memorable but probably not favorite was when she turned 6 and her parents threw her presents into the way back of the station wagon as they drove to Disney World for a week, in June...

Tom, its so fun celebrating YOU! Thanks for all you do, who you are and what you mean to us.

We love you!!! OXOXOXOXOX

Jays class picture next to her former year pictures 

Dinner!

Billy's class photo 

Kay refusing to get her photo take + my cute boys

Jimmys class photo

Watch out world, there is 1 new driver in your midst!

Yes, a major milestone and hurdle to adulthood, James Michael Lee Murphy is now a licensed driver.'

It was a bit of an ordeal but he got there.

A bit of context, getting a behind the wheel appointment in the Twin Cities is like trying to get an audience with the pope. It take forever and you need to have connections and do favors.  Since we didnt want him missing school and he didnt want to miss football, it left us precious few options for his test. In fact, it meant that Tracy and Jimmy drove to Winona in late August for the 1st attempt (foreshadowing, you can see where this is going...). Its a 2 12/ hour drive, the did it in the dark, through road construction and Tracy made Jimmy drive.  They had a wonderful chat about football, school and life and encountered some harrowing fog and windy hilly river roads but they made it!

The next morning, after some last minute rules of the road cramming and texting with a friend from Korean camp that is learning to drive in Winona,  they were up and headed to the drivers station.  It did not look good. The instructor was flustered, crabby and might have been hung over.  It didnt go well.  While Tracy waited with bated breath, Jimmy came in shaking his head and downtrodden, he didnt pass.  What really killed him was that it wasnt one thing. It was a point off here and there and a mandate to practice for another week and try again.  UGHHH!! It would have been better if he crashed or hit the pylon during parking.  But the slow no was killing him. Lets just leave it at ... the ride home sucked.

So, back to the drawing board to find a time to retest and back at practicing parallel parking and driving.  For the 2nd test, we were insistent that he use the Pilot as its going to be the car he drives. But, this is infinitely harder to park than the Insight (which he used in the 1st test).  Needless to say, the next 2 weeks were full of practice, frustration, minor moments of hope and building anxiety that he might not pass his second time either (on our part, for his part he figured "I've already passed once, i just need to do it again" the kid does not lack confidence...)

We found a 10am appointment in Chaska (30 min away) but it meant he'd have to miss gym. We were ok with that compromise. Now, the argument, who's going to take him. As the brilliant young man he is, he refused to choose between Mom or Dad.  Mom wanted Dad to do it because she still has PSD from the 1st attempt. Dad is steering clear and is actually scheduled to work at that time.  So, Mom it is, a second time.

Tracy heads to school to pick him up at 9am with a sinking feeling in her stomach and on the verge of heartburn with all her nerves.  The drive home will be a disaster if he doesnt pass this time.

As she pulls into school, kids are streaming out ... a fire drill!  They manage to find each other and off they go. Jimmy driving and getting warmed up.

The testing center is WAY more welcoming and there are many parent/kid combo sitting nervously around. Jimmy has, of course, researched this site and quizzed all his friends that have tested here. Its an open course and he's feeling confident.  The instructor comes out and has a big smile on his face.  A much more auspicious start than that 1st!  As Tracy is waiting, she's visiting with other parents and most are here for their 2nd or 3rd attempt. We are in good company.

Jimmy comes back - all smiles, thumbs up and excited. He passed!  His instructor even commented that his 1st attempt was a marginal fail.  They did the parking part 1st and while his parallel parking was ugly, it was effective (life hack, he turned his side mirror way down so that he could see the curb) In an interesting turn of events, as he was parallel parking, there was a fender bender 1/2 block away. The instructor got on the phone to call 911 and Jimmy was wondering if it was all a staged part of his test, to see what he'd do in an accident and emergency vehicle situation. It was real life however, he stayed calm, navigated the police cars and passed with flying colors!!

Jimmy, we are so proud of you ! You worked hard, persevered and did it!

His 1st outing driving alone?  GameStop to put money down on a new game...typical kid.

XOXOX Love you Jimmy!!

Filling out the paperwork for his license

He did it!

Labor Day and Back to School .... AHHHHHHH

Seriously, did we have a summer? How can it be school already?! Tracy and I are already having serious summer regrets of what we didnt do... but, we did end the summer with a bang.  Camp McGregor with Doug, Jennifer, James, Sam, Sean and Bella (yes, random white girl - aka: friend of Kays so that she didnt feel out numbered by boys, not that thats ever stopped Kay before ... just saying')

Camp McGregor is a property owned by Tracy's new work (Mount Olivet Rolling Acres) and is a huge piece of property in McGregor (2 1/2 hours north) that has 3 cabins, a lodge, a pontoon, a fishing boat, 2 paddle boats, 3 canoes, and every kind of sport imaginable (football, volleyball, soccer, pingpong, horseshoes, fuse ball, etc...)  We had so much fun!

It was also wild rice days in town so we were able to see the local fare and have some really incredible people watching including a parade that strongly featured the republican party (support mining, support forestry, support concealed weapons - the kids were in a bit of shock).

The only down side (for the kids) was no cell connectivity and no wifi. The adults, however, were in heaven!

The weather was gorgeous, the food yummy and the company chill and relaxed. A perfect pre-school retreat.

Then....dum dum DUM!..... the 1st day of school.  Billy started Jr High, Jimmy started High School and Kay is ruling the roost as a Freshman at the Jr High.

Everyone has friends in their classes, someone to eat lunch with and ... so far ... seems to like their teachers.

Jimmy is going to have a tough schedule.  AP US History (A-PUSH) and Pre Calc. But, he also have gimme classes like band and gym so ... on the all it evens out.

Kay is bummed she didnt get Jimmys math teacher from last year but is pretty excited and determined to start the year off right, getting up, getting dressed and being ready more than 5 minutes before the bus arrives. Its an adjustment for all  of us.

Billy said school was "nice".  Enough said.

Of course, they were chatty chatty chatty the 1st night and then ... reality crashed in and they have been crabby days 2, 3 and 4.

Its  hard to adjust to a new school, new schedule, new teachers, new/old friends and actual responsibility again.  So is the ways of the world.

Here's the highlights...

Tom waited all day for his turkey leg at Wild Rice Days

Kay planned a taste test with miracle berries. You suck on them for 20 minutes and they make everything taste sweet. She had everything from vinegar to hot sauce to lemons. Billy had a stomach ache for 2 days

TONS of VHS movies to choose from - we went with Ferris, classic

Hours of prep and entertainment

No one was safe

Everyone was a good sport

LOVE the pontoon - the had so much fun jumping off and doing flips

The crew

The moon

1st day of school smiles, yes, he did wear shoes

The sophomore!

These signs welcomed the kids to school, Tracy got seriously choked up.

Our favorite

YES!

xoxo Hopkins

Amazing

!!!!!

Alright Billy!

The most important exercise of the day, who's got who in class....