Freakin' Fourteen...

I should have known...
This photo was not my first clue, but I think a boy who 'takes a meeting' with Santa in such a way may just be a bit of a handful as time goes on...

Well here we are almost 6 years from when this picture was taken and my sweet, bright little guy is...you guessed it...Freakin' fourteen. I also refer to him as my Radioactive Boy Scout. He...

• is taller than me and I am 5'8" though I still tell him(and for now he believes) that I could make him cry like a girl in 25 seconds if necessary.
• wears a size 11 shoe and has the biggest feet in our house.
• eats more in a day than a small third world country(we go through a 1/2 gal of milk in the blink of an eye and when I scramble eggs for him it is a minimum of 4 or 5 for just him)though is tall and lean.
• over the years, he has taken apart our water softener system, detached the drain pipe from our kitchen sink, taken apart every electronic toy belonging to him(and his little brother), taken jewelry apart, built rockets that could take out a satellite, tried to build a Jacob's ladder to arch electricity, mixed more household materials together we are lucky we haven't had a HAZMAT team to our house, disassembled every hard drive and VCR that our family and friends have given to him over the years, and frozen and exploded more things in my freezer than I can even count.  

Now he is 14.  He knows everything.  He has it covered. He just started 9th grade. He says he needs us to give him more 'liberty' and if we did he would do everything he is supposed to do.  Well, that worked for 5 days and then I got an email from his teacher that he failed to pass in an assignment that counted as a quiz grade.  The day before I got this email I clearly said to him..."If you don't have all of your school work done you are not going to your Aunt's for the weekend."

Long story short...guess who stayed home this weekend.  It was supposed to be my weekend.  My husband and youngest went Cub Scout camping and I had a weekend planned of full of girl stuff.  His punishment turned into my punishment.  I wasn't going to let him sleep late and be on his computer all day or doing whatever.  I dragged him to my pedicure, he sat in the very warm waiting room for 90 minutes during my first Bikram Yoga class.  He was up early to take care of the chickens and take care of the lists of chores I put together for him.  I explained Monday is a new week... do your 'job' and you get 'paid' by doing fun things on the weekend.  Next weekend his Scout Troop is going to Block Island...he better do his job, I love him but I don't need him attached to my hip.  Here's hopin'...