Wow, this hard-working and talented boy/man turned 14.  People used to tell me, “it goes by so fast” and I didn’t believe them during the long exhausting days of little kids. Now, can he really be 14!?

This year, his birthday landed during moving prep.  Because he loves a good hard project he didn’t mind the work that had to be done that day, he actually really enjoyed it.  We rented a moving truck to do some hauling.  There’s something about being up in a big truck.  He still remembers when we moved 10 years ago from Atlanta, Georgia and he rode in the big truck.  He also remembers Grandpa Mark driving and giving him a quarter for learning how to count to 10 in Spanish (that was a last heroic effort as we circled around in Colorado looking for our stop).

That night we fed a tired crew a Burton favorite:  French Toast and bacon.  I’m not 100% sure what it is about the french toast that he loves, but I’m betting it’s the eggs. Eggs and Burton are BFFs.  We were lucky to have Aunt Julie and her kids in town and Grandpa Mark and Grandma Jani.  It was Burton’s “golden” birthday 14 on the 14th, so in his selfless way, he played with Luke and the golden balloons forever making Luke laugh and laugh.

The night before, as part of his celebration, we did an Escape the Room adventure. The fog and the alarms, the cluelessness and the discoveries combined to create a unique family experience we loved.

So to the boy whose voice dropped again just barely and who grew at least 6 inches this past year, Happy, Happy Birthday!

Ready or not, he’s growing up and good things are happening.