The Budding Chef

 Mama was too tired to cook, so Quinn took over the kitchen. He created a marinade by following a Gordon Ramsey recipe, and then broiled himself a delicious steak.  Then he made homemade steak fries as a side dish.   Super impressive.

Getting Ready to Drive

 The boys get their drivers' licenses in January.  Not super excited about new drivers starting out on icy/snowy roads, but we will see how that all goes.  Regardless, the offspring need something to drive, and my old Impala has been waiting patiently in the yard for a few years for just this time.  Grandpa came over to get the thing running again, and the boys "helped".  Kind of. 

His First Real-Paying Job

 Quinn is now officially the organist for the 7:45 am Mass at St. Anne's Catholic church.  This is a paid, weekly gig... enough to give him spending money, but not enough to interfere with school.  PERFECT!  And he's doing a fabulous job.  I'm so proud of him!

Random Act of Kindness

Quinn has been riding his bike to the park nearly every day, and practicing his flips and dives.  There's a big sandy hill at the park in town, and it works well as a diving simulator for him.  Apparently, as he was practicing one day, an elderly lady was watching him.  Flip.  Over.  And over.  And over.  Finally, she came up to him and asked him what he was doing and why.  He told her he was practicing for the upcoming diving season.  She asked him what his goal was, and he told her "to win the U.P. Finals for diving."  She looked him in the eye and said "think bigger."  Wow.  This random stranger told Quinn that, with the determination he was showing this day, there was nothing keeping him from the Olympics.  Then she went back to her car, wrote him this note, and came back and gave it to him with a $20 bill.  The kid was suitably impressed.  Such a wonderful, random act of kindness!!

 

His First In Person Job Application

 Quinn was all dressed up for church anyway, so he stopped by to deliver his job application to the local ice cream shop.  His mother, hiding discreetly in the car snapping photos of this momentous occasion, would have hired him!!

16 Year Old Stats

At 16 years and 20 days old, Quinn Aho hit 6 whole feet, and 135 pounds.  Colby is right behind him, at 5'11.75", and 135.8 pounds.  BMI in the 17th and 19th percentiles respectively.  The doctor said the boys started their growth spurts late compared to other boys (most boys 12-14, these boys 14-16), which means that their growth plates will be open longer, and the odds are they will be even taller.  Right now, both boys are in the 90th% for height, and still have a good 3-4 years left of growing to do.  We will see where they end up!

The doctor ALSO said he doesn't recommend "impact" sports like trampolines, diving and pole vaulting because of their single kidney each, but when I told him that both boys were GOOD at those things, and LOVED those things, he said "OK.  I'm not going to tell them no.  It's a calculated risk."  Yes.  If the boys couldn't hurl themselves from great heights, I think they would be severely depressed.  This is what they do.  It's their thing.  We can say we're "being careful", but I don't know what that means when  free-falling through air.  There's no "being careful".  They fall well?  I guess there's that.  They DO fall well, and rarely hurt themselves.

Bring on 11th grade!  We're ready!

Their First Job Applications

At 15 years 11 months and a spattering of days... my boys have applied for their first jobs.  Both have applied to be stockers/clerks at the new Dollar Store opening soon here in Chassell.  A sign of the times, they filled out their job applications on their phones.  The whole process just cracked me up.  Here are some of the answers they had to the questions they were asked.

Previous Employer:  "Uhhh.... my mom?"

Reliable Transportation: "Yes.  My Bike."

Have you ever been late for work/school: "Yes, a lot."  I told Colby this was not a good answer, but he was proud of being honest.  He said he would explain it to whoever if he got an in-person interview.  We live far away from the school, and in the winter we run late, and it's almost always Mom's fault!!

Address: "What's our address again, Mom?"  Uhhhhhh... this one they should know by now!

Age: "How do I answer this?"  Honestly, son.  "But I'm not old enough to work legally yet!"  You will be in two weeks.  Just answer honestly.  No... DO NOT say you're 18.

Position:  "What's a position?  What am I supposed to say?"

And to sum it all up.... "I literally have NO experience."

Too funny. 

They're growing up, these men!