Happy, happy birthday!!!

 Sweet sixteen for Tipton!  Is it called a sweet sixteen?  I can not believe this kid of ours is 16.  Tipton is an independent individual and will accomplish many great things.  He is the only one that cares about his hair and clothes.  We give him a hard time about his hair and using a blow dryer every day.  He does not like his hair to air dry.  We stopped buying him clothes.  He knows exactly what he wants--name brands and styles.  He beats to his own drum.  We give him a hard time too about his choice of short shorts.  He is the preppy kind when it comes to style.  He loves making money and saving it, but will spend it if it's something he really wants.  Since Jarom gets Veteran's Day off every year, which is Titpon's birthday, he took Tipton shopping.  (Never thought we would be doing that for one of our son's birthdays.)

Tipton wants to be an occupational therapist some day, but he has the mind of a lawyer.  Tipton enjoys school and remembers a great deal of information from the things he learns.  He loves history, physical science, and reading.  I don't know another child that knows every state's electoral college numbers.  As a sophomore in high school, he already has certain opinions when it comes to politics.  I'm sure the election played a great deal in paying closer attention to matters of the country but I'm glad that he is listening and learning.

For the first time in I don't know how many years, Tipton changed his birthday dinner from chicken bundles to bratwurst.  He also asked for skinny french fries with a special seasoning I use and french bread.  He loves french bread!  For dessert he also changed it up requesting rootbeer floats.

On the 18th, he finally got his driver's license.  (With COVID-19 we had to schedule in advance but still couldn't get a day near his birthday.)  Big day!  He drove himself to work for the first time and it was so nice.

We can't forget the best dad, JAROM, and his birthday.  As we get older, these days are very non-eventful.  I never know what to get Jarom and this year he bought himself some chocolate from England for his birthday.  Since his birthday fell on a Sunday it was a quiet day except for the game of Monopoly and Jackbox games.  We told him we let him win for his birthday. :)

Jarom is such a hard worker and loves his boys.  He also loves hiking and likes to take the boys with him.  I'm not sure they always love it getting up early but always seem happy afterwards.

He requested hamburgers and made himself red velvet cake.  His red velvet cake is so good.

Jarom's new thing is buying soft drinks to bribe the boys or as prizes for some of our family games.  It was okay at first, but our kids have now drunk more soft drinks this past year than probably our 21 years of marriage.  

He really enjoys working from home and may never return back to the office!  We'll see how that goes come next year, but for now he is living it up. 

He continues to run most lunch times to the high school and back (around 5 miles).  It keeps him nice and trim.  He also continues to bake cakes, brownies, and other goodies all the time so the running allows him to eat his sweets...or maybe he runs to eat sweets.

It is amazing that these two have birthdays so close together.  They really are two peas in a pod.  They think and act so much a like it can be a little creepy.  However, life would be so boring without them.  Happy birthday to them both!