You're gonna want to see this one...

1-Veggie Teen had a birthday - he's sixteen...  if you look closely at his knee you can see that he even got a vehicle... his favorite Hippie Van :)

2-Okay, so he got a little bit more than that... 

funny he is still rocking the neighborhood by playing on the piano forte upstairs... we met our brand new neighbors - and they didn't even ask our names... just "who plays the piano?"... luckily that was followed by "I like it" and not by "hey kid, could ya tone it down a little?" or "you little brat - I'm gonna call the cops if that wakes me up again!"
3-16 is a rite of passage in our family... it is the age when you're allowed to *gasp* Date...

Guess how long it took before he was invited to go somewhere...

24.2 hours.

Guess how long it would have been before HE did the inviting...

more than that.  a lot more.

Thank goodness girls are a little bolder these days...

and creative too... the "signature" to the invite was buried in a (reportedly) delicious chocolate cake.  Which looked a lot better before digging out aforementioned signature...

4-The kids are playing soccer...  M even occasionally will get near the ball.

Don't look closely - don't notice that her shorts are on backward... just appreciate the miracle of her foot making contact with the ball and not someone's shin.  I once caught her doing a little boogie near the goal... the game had obviously lost her interest... I wish I'd had a camera though because that was quite the talented little hip-shaker out there.

5-H plays too... as does Po... unfortunately their games are almost always scheduled at the same time and try as I might I have not been able to be two places at once.  I'll keep working on that.

As you can tell from the picture Soccer is not about exercise or skill... it is about fashion...

Check out those socks (not my daughter wearing them...  just a friend with awesome taste in leg wear)

6-Speaking of great taste - M has obviously seen the new trend amongst the teens - wearing two different colored Cons...  she decided to put her own spin on it.

and yes - I did let her go to school that way. (although I did tuck the matching pair in her backpack... just in case)

7-The REAL news of the week?

It's what I let my kid go to school WITHOUT...

I'm really torn...  because when he asked if I'd cut it last night I was having a "shock and awe" moment.

and this morning...  not a word was said... I don't think ManOfTheHouse even noticed... 

This little tiny strand of hair was such a part of his identity for the past year I'm not sure what's going to happen without it...  He is NOT a rebellious child... and even if I weren't his mother I think I'd be impressed with what a good kid he is...  but he just likes to be a little "different"...  and this was his non-permanent, non-bizarre, non-illegal way to stand out.  And now it's gone...

A moment of silence please...