Teenager in the House

Abigail’s 13th birthday celebrations began a day early, on Sunday, January 11th when we had the Fletcher family over that evening for dinner and dessert.

I baked Abigail’s requested birthday cakes (yes, that’s two cakes – a volleyball and soccer ball) on Saturday and got them covered with a thin layer of frosting right before Justin and I went out with friends that night.  Before I left I told Abigail she could decorate the volleyball.  She typically enjoys that sort of thing and I was happy to have one less thing to do on Sunday.  She wasn’t thrilled with the results, but I think she did a great job.  That pre-made black frosting can be a bear to work with.

Her grandparents and cousins got her lots of fun things.  

Having just celebrated Christmas a few weeks before – Drew recognized the process of opening gifts and was very excited.  I thought this was cute to see him perched up on the hearth trying so hard not to interfere.

We made two ball cakes because we thought they wouldn’t feed very many people, but boy were we wrong.  Those little balls pack in a lot of cake and we enjoyed eating them for several days.

Abigail was actually very excited to go to school on her birthday.  Her friends have a tradition of decorating each other’s lockers on their birthdays.  One friend went so far as to bring Abigail an awesome web chair to school as a gift.  Abigail even took it to class and sat in it.

I usually don’t see Abigail in the mornings (either I’m sleeping or running) but I tried to hurry home on her birthday after my run to at least catch her at the bus stop.  I was right behind her bus as it stopped to pick her up – I had no resort, but to roll down my window and scream “Happy Birthday!” to her as she boarded.  Good thing she’s hasn’t reached the age where I’m a complete embarrassment to her and she was more happy than ashamed.

We have a tradition that the kids get to pick out their favorite dinner for their birthday – Abigail couldn’t decide on a dinner, but she knew she wanted homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast and pretzel bites with cheesy dipping sauce as an after school snack.  Clearly if I can barely holler hello to her in the mornings, cinnamon rolls at the crack of dawn weren’t going to happen.  We did however fill our bellies with pretzel bites as soon as she walked in the door.  

Several months ago I decided I wanted to surprise Abigail with a candy-gram for her birthday.  I had to be pretty original since I couldn’t use the standard chocolate treats, but I thought it turned out great and it was fun to use dust off the small creative portion of my brain for a small project.  

Abigail loved it! No shocker that Carly’s already put in her request for a candy-gram for her upcoming birthday.

The cinnamon rolls did make it on the birthday menu – dinner!  Super yummy and a fitting birthday feast for my teenage daughter!

Abigail’s birthday continued to trickle into the next few days.  Tuesday night she and I did a little shopping with a few gift cards she’d received followed by dinner at Red Robin with her free birthday burger and dessert at Cold Stone with her BOGO birthday coupon.

On Wednesday night, Justin let her take a couple friends with them to see the Hobbit in the theatre (he’d scored a few extra free tickets).

I feel so lucky to be this girl’s mother.  She is such a huge blessing in our family and sets the bar high for her siblings.  I love how down to earth she is – she doesn’t worry about fitting in or being cool.  She is a girl with integrity and an example to her peers.  She has so many wonderful friends and endless talents – seriously there is little she cannot do, and do well.  I’m so grateful for how responsible she is – school, babysitting, how she handles and thinks about money… I could go on and on.  Point is:  Abigail is Amazing and we love, Love, LOVE her!!

Happy 13th Birthday Abigail!!

Just a few minutes with Drew

I take it back.  I couldn’t quite close the door on 2014 when I spotted these pictures on my computer.  The Sunday before Christmas I took this cute picture of my boys before church.

When we got home from church, Drew sat down in front of the Christmas tree and he looked so cute I grabbed my camera and took a picture.

I then proceeded to follow my little guy around – just a few minutes from the life of my busiest toddler ever.  Love this kid!

2014 Wrap-Up

The rest of Christmas break is mostly a blur.  For the most part our days were spent at home.  We did take an excursion up north to Lynnwood on Tuesday, December 30th to take advantage of their $5 menu day.  We lumped together several other errands to make it worth the drive – Winco, Sam’s Club, Hobby Lobby, etc…  It was actually more fun than it now sounds and the fact that it was super productive as well is a double bonus.

Justin and I seemed to have a bounty of social engagements during break – so much fun to see and visit with friends from near and far, old and new.  We have awesome friends!

Just a few pictures from December to close the book on another year.

Abigail concluded middle school basketball season – it wasn’t a thrilling season – with only two other middle schools to play, both with subpar skills, her team dominated to the point that their coach wouldn’t let them score anymore during a game.

Katie has wanted her haircut like mine for several months so she went with me to my appointment and we chopped it off – super cute!

Mr. Drew sure has personality.  He keeps us on our toes with his shenanigans.

Anyone else eat their bagel with a fork?

The girls wanted to go shopping the day after Christmas and since I did not – Justin offered to go in my place.  I sent him on his way with several different items to return and they had a successful outing while I was able to stay home and help Katie build her Lego castle.  Legos are so fun!  Too bad they are such an expensive hobby.  Justin had helped Jason put together his new Lego plane.  Jason told him, “I’m glad I got this from Santa so we didn’t have to pay for it.”

I also helped Jason build a makeshift plane.  I think he called it a dog plane?

With all the Legos Jason and Katie received for Christmas our kitchen table was Lego central during the break.  Unfortunately, that didn’t keep Drew from getting into them - often.

We decided we’d ring in the New Year at home with the kids – Jason, Katie and Drew went to bed at the normal time, but the girls are no longer at the age where we can get away with that.  Justin and I decided it was as good as any time to teach the girls how to play Settlers of Catan.  Abigail has played before, but our game consists of the additional Seafairs edition and the Cities and Knights edition so it’s a lot to grasp at once.  The girls did great even if it was the longest game in history – Abigail would be happy to have it documented that she won both that evening and another evening since then.

The girls had a sleepover at Grandma Fletchers on the 1st with their cousin Hallie followed by shopping and a movie the following day.

I’m grateful to be able to look back at 2014 as a great year for our family and I’m excited for all the good and happy memories we will make in 2015.  We have so much to look forward to and I’m feeling incredibly blessed.

Christmas Day

The kids weren’t supposed to wake us up until after 7:30am on Christmas morning.  Usually they’ve had to wait for everyone to wake up on their own accord before heading downstairs – this year we told them if Drew wasn’t awake by 8am we would wake him up.  Still torturous I know, but sleep is very much protected and encouraged around here.  Both Jason and Drew slept til minutes before 8am.   The girls were surprisingly very patient, but they didn’t waste anytime and quickly gathered everyone on the steps.  

Once they filed downstairs they delved into their stockings.

Santa usually doesn’t bring very big gifts – the traditional orange, tooth cleaning products, new underwear and/or socks, lifesavers, etc…. This year both Jason and Katie asked for Legos and boy, did Santa deliver!

Drew also got a pretty fantastic gift from Santa!

Justin couldn’t quite figure out what Santa had left him in his stocking.  Poo-pourri!  Funny, I had one wrapped under the tree for him as well.

Drew was so fun to watch open gifts.  He’d tear off a piece wrapping paper, we’d cheer, then he’d look at us as if asking, “really, this is ok? You want me to do it again?!?”  Then he’d tear off another piece and again look at us for confirmation that he wasn’t going to get in trouble.  So cute!

Later that morning he laid right down in a pile of wrapping paper and kicked and flailed his arms and legs.  My kid is awesome!

New Pants!

The kids were all very excited for their secret siblings to open the gifts they had chosen for them.  The girls in particular were very thoughtful with their gift giving.  Abigail even used some of her own money to buy gifts for some of her other siblings.

Going into Christmas I felt we’d kept things pretty simple and didn’t get the kids much.  So I was surprised when it took us over an hour to get everything open.  It helps that my Mom had several gifts wrapped for the kids as well.  The kids were thrilled with everything they received and even our pre-teen daughters thought they’d hit the jackpot.  I hope they will always be so easy to please.  

A T-Mobile light up bracelet – exciting, no?

How many 10 year olds would be so excited about getting their requested crayons?

Carly LOVES her new jacket from Grandma & Val

New pillowcases made by Grandma Kesler

More Legos from Grandma & Val – this kid was in Lego heaven!

The girls put together some really thoughtful gifts for Justin and me.  Abigail made Justin a coupon book full of various ways she would help and serve.

Carly created an I “heart” U puzzle out of melty beads with a cleaver banner.  She spent many, many hours creating (and recreating after Drew destroyed it) this top secret gift in the days leading up to Christmas.

There were several gifts under the tree that Justin had “acquired” – the cow that danced and played Christmas music was a HUGE hit with Drew.

After all the gift exchanging was complete we had delicious “waffle love” waffles for breakfast at Justin’s request.

That evening we headed down to Grandma and Grandpa Fletcher’s for more Christmas fun.  Grandma started the evening by giving each of the grandkids a new Disney pillow pet.

Unfortunately {and fortunately}, I put my camera away after that and just enjoyed the evening.   It seems that after every Christmas I wish I would have taken a picture of the kids with all their Christmas goodies – once again I didn’t remember.  It’s safe to say everyone was thrilled with their gifts and felt the joy by giving as well.  Another wonderful Christmas!