Happy Birthday Matthew!

Matthew turned 13 today (Monday)! Another teenager in the house. How did that happen so fast?

We had Tim & Eang over for dinner. Matthew opened his presents first. Quite a stash...

Birthday boy with some of his gifts

When the kids were little, we frequently created some type of puzzle or treasure hunt for them to find one (or more) of their presents. We had a rather large, difficult-to-wrap birthday present for him, so Karri and I decided to revive the 'present hunt' idea! Matthew is into music (plays guitar and piano... itching for a drum set), so I created a rock-and-roll themed puzzle, including some random trivia that even I had to look up online. The trivia answers formed instructions for where to find his present. Google saved him...

Researching

The clues led him to the basement, where a decoy present... and more clues awaited.  We nearly had him with the 'homemade' drum set of pans, aluminum tubs, a garbage can lid... and a set of new drumsticks. But he found another clue that led him to page 368 of his new '100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs' music book, (The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again"), which led him to his new, electronic drum set!

He found it!

The set was assembled shortly after dinner and the kids had a ball playing with it. Its really cool and I think will be a great starter set for him to see if drums are his 'thing'. The best part is that he can plug in a headset, so we don't have to listen to him "Bang on the Drums all Day" (Todd Rundgren - should have used that in my trivia!).

We finished off the night with chocolate cream pie.  I think he had a great day.

Matthew is a great kid - kind, caring, helpful, smart, funny - and a good brother to Thomas and Victoria.  We are so proud of him.