Ian is 14!

Wow. How did that happen? He has informed us he'll be able to drive in 2 more years.

For his birthday dinner, Ian chose a favorite dish, cheese souffle. I mention that only because I'm kind of proud of how well it turned out this time, the best one yet - and actually enough to feed us all after doubling the recipe. For dessert, Elise and I made a chocolate cake with chocolate icing from scratch. Elise wasn't sure the cake was chocolaty enough and so decorated it with leftover chocolate Easter eggs just for good measure.

One family birthday tradition we have is that every member of the family gives a little speech in honor of the birthday person, remembering high points of the past year, noting personal growth, and just affirming things we like about him/her. The speeches are also a good vehicle for taking note of God's faithfulness over time. Our speeches to Ian hit upon several characteristics that make him special to us: (1) He does not complain much. (2) He has fairly broad interests: math, puzzles of any sort (math, word, 3-D, etc.), languages (he is pretty jazzed by his Japanese class here), insects, need I mention video/computer games? (3) He is not afraid of working hard; he has been putting in many extra hours outside of school to keep up with his Ann Arbor math class. (4) He is a good sport, a fun person to play games with. (5) In fact, he can make almost anything into a game. (6) He has a wonderfully goofy sense of humor.

Here's Elise's speech to him, a poem she wrote. I got permission from both Ian and Elise to share here, though I had to change one line per Ian's instructions - and then edit out 2 lines per Elise's instructions.

IAN
You are a brother of a sort I find hard to find.
Happily, God made no extras of your kind.
Sadly, you have a bit of memory loss,
Don't step on my toes! Don't ruin my cross!
But everyone makes mistakes.
Even I make some awful cakes.
But not everything you do is bad.
There are quite some experiences you've had.
You are 14 now,
You're long past Barnie and a purple cow.
You're the best at maths I've ever seen.
You make up something fun when it's time to clean.
The games you make are amazing too.
The powerful shots all come from you?
Soon, you'll be driving fast.
You might even end up in a cast.
You're 14 now. It's time to start
Helping Mom push her heavy cart.
Help me with my homework too!
I might give a treat to you.
You are a brother, you're special too,
And this is why I love you.

Why green? Ian's eyes are green! (And his shirt in the photos was green.)