Carson's birthday

Last of the birthday stretch. Carson is now officially a teenager!!  My efforts to come up with something unique and fabulous for each birthday this summer/fall had just about been exhausted. But Carson's recent re-reading (listening) of the Lord of the Rings series gave me an idea. I commissioned my talented friend Jayne to make me a Lord of the Rings cake.

The elvish writing on the outside is the actual script from the inside of the ring. 

She even made it marbled inside. 

It turned out pretty darn amazing!! Carson requested lemon cake and Jayne said she was so happy to be able to do something other than chocolate!  Carson was so tickled with it.

I was also smart enough to take Brannick shopping with me at the BX. I had waited too long to order in gifts and was despairing at what to buy him here on base. But he came up with some great ideas, the best of which was this pleather jacket. Since he is still growing (daily it seems like), we didn't want to go with a more expensive real leather yet but this jacket looks and feels great. And Carson loved it. We also got him a more comfortable seat for his new bike and a few other small things.

If anybody can tell me how to flip a picture I would appreciate it!

Geoffrey took him on an outing to Adana to have dinner and find the RC store and the go-cart track. They had quite an adventure but in the end they decided to order an RC truck off the net. It should come soon.

Carson has handled this drastic change so well. I see a new confidence in him as he gets older. Sometimes that confidence means that he is a more daring in annoying his sister, but its still a good thing. Over Thanksgiving he even said he was thankful that we were able to move around so much! I was surprised and grateful. I don't know that I would've handled so much change as well when I was a teenager.