Last week, our son Tyler turned fifteen. You sit and ponder and wonder where in the world all those years went. To think that in one more year, he will be old enough to drive is just crazy to me. It feels like yesterday, I was fifteen. Now, I have a son almost old enough to drive me around.

When he was younger, he loved building Legos. At five years old, he built this truck, which was almost a thousand pieces. His dad helped him here and there, but he did ninety percent by himself. After building that red truck, he was hooked.

He did other ones for a while, but they got too easy.

There was a Lego crane he had his eye on after that. It was a Lego Technic, so it had power functions. This particular Lego was around $225. He had some money from his birthday saved, and he worked so hard that fall to save for the rest of this crane. I made him a chart of all the money he had to save in order to get it. It had all $1 boxes, and he would cross off each box with every dollar he made. Once he finally hit $225, we ordered it. He just couldn’t wait for this Lego set to come. The coolest part was watching him earn it himself. It meant more to him. We gave him little jobs to make him feel like he was earning it himself, and his grandparents also helped out the same way. Each dollar he made, he couldn’t wait to cross off and get closer to that amount he needed.

The day came when the Lego arrived. You would have thought it was Christmas morning! That kid sat for a week building this 12,006-piece Lego. Let me remind you that he was seven years old. It was incredible. My mind was completely blown that our child could build something like this at seven years old. I couldn’t even sit down and do two pages of these instructions. It was so confusing! But there he sat, just separating all his pieces for his thick nine-book instruction manual.

Year after year, he continued to save and build these huge Legos. We had a friend of ours, Jeff Patryna, build beautiful wood shelves that wrapped all around his room so he could display all these Legos. He took many of them for show-and-tell at school, and he proudly showed them to anyone who would be willing to come into our home to see them.

Here he is now, at fifteen, still putting his mind to something and doing it.

Last year in October, he got an electric guitar given to him by his awesome bus driver, Mr. Ron. He went on YouTube and started to learn how to play. This spring, he had a solo in the band on his electric guitar, which just blew people away. He also played in Battle of the Bands to fill in for another guitarist. He can play just some wild, awesome songs that other guitarists tell him it took years for them to play. He has always done motocross since he was little (I think that just comes naturally in our family), but the Legos and guitar are something he taught himself to do.

At five years old, he was determined to do that little red truck. That five-year-old in him is still determined, and I absolutely love it! What a drive to have. It is so fun watching him turn into this handsome, driven man. He knows how to earn something on his own and conquer something when he sets his mind to it.

Watching your children grow and learn each year is so awesome. Each year is something new and different. I love our kids’ ages right now. 10 ½ and 15 are just such fun ages. They are becoming so independent. It’s definitely bittersweet. Do I want them to grow up and leave? No. But I know that when they do someday, they will do well and know that their momma and dad will always be here no matter how old they are. The years sure do fly by. I am going to enjoy each one.

Simple Summer Dessert
Ingredients:
• Wegmans Chocolate Drizzled Popped Cakes
• Lite Whipped Cream
• Strawberries (cleaned and sliced)
Directions:

Throw a popped cake on a favorite plate. Top with strawberries or any of your favorite fruit, then spray with whipped cream. It’s so light and refreshing for summer. Bananas and melted peanut butter are my next ones to try. Enjoy!