We Have a Teenager!

Savannah celebrated her 13th birthday in June and has officially become a teenager. How is that possible??? Where did the time go?

On her special day she earned two more ribbons in Personal Progress; four down, three more to go for her Young Women medallion!

In the evening we had our family party for Savannah and she was super excited to open her presents. She was especially eager to open the big one.

She received some nice little gifts, like books and painting supplies.

I could feel her excitement as she turned to the big box. If only she could have known that I sat there with as much just as much anticipation for this opening because I knew what was in that box.

For the past several months Savannah had been begging for a phone but my rule is strict - no phone until a person is 16. I hate how everyone today seems glued to their phones to the exclusion of all else going on around them, even friends they are with. I do not want my kids becoming those zombie-like kids one sees everywhere, unable to talk to those around them or just absorb the beauty of life that surrounds them each day. David was willing but I could not be swayed. At least, that's what I thought. One afternoon I found a letter from Savannah on my bed that outlined her great desire for a phone as well as the benefits that would come with her having a phone. She mentioned that she would do extra chores as well as pay for half of the monthly bill. "Phones are also good because if you are somewhere with friends and you need to be picked up or something, you will have a phone." Valid argument, especially with all the friend outings she has been having lately. I could feel my wall starting to crack as I read lines like "I am wise with my time. I know people are more important than phones." and "I can also use my phone to do good things like read my scriptures, listen to music, and look up a difficult problem or something I don't understand. There are a lot of learning apps that will help me. There is also the "New Era" that I could read on the bus and other places." The letter was really cute and well-thought out. She presented her arguments and ended with "I hope you think about this and reflect on my points." Well, I did and I came to the conclusion that if we laid down the law regarding her usage, maybe I could ease up on the Nazis phone stance a bit and give her a chance. So, David got the phone and it was time to figure out a way to really surprise her with it. We decided to put it in a great big box in hopes that the size would fool her. However, I wanted to really fool her so we went a step further - I taped the phone to the back of a Monster High doll, which she has totally gotten too old for, and then laid the doll box face up so she would have to pull the doll out before realizing what she was actually getting.  Needless to say, our plan went off without a hitch. She opened the box...

she struggled to hide her disappointment that it was only a lame Monster High doll, she pulled it out...

and then bammo! She saw what was taped to the back. I truly, truly love this picture!!

Her excitement and joy brought tears to my eyes. I love making my kids happy!

Savannah and her new phone. Here's to hoping that she doesn't turn into another one of those mindless individuals walking around today with their phone forever in her hand while it sucks all her time and thoughts.

Noah is always the life of the party and got those party shenanigans going!

Brownies and ice cream for dessert.

Make a wish! I think hers already came true!

Because Savannah's birthday fell on a Sunday this year we had to wait until Monday to take her out for her birthday breakfast. She chose IHOP!

Quite a tasty way to start the day!

Savannah's Favorites at 13:
     Color:  blue
     Food:  Tilapia
     Movie:  Prince of Persia
     TV Show:  Mako Mermaids
     Book:  The Lunar Chronicles; Selection, East
     Toy:  so outgrown them (secretly: Legos)
     Animal:  Lion
     Thing to Do:  Play Soccer
     Sport to Watch:  football
     Sport to Play:  soccer
     Sports Team:  Niners, Orioles
     Sports Player:  Manny Machado, Kaepernick
     Fruit:  Watermelon
     Vegetable:  Broccoli
     Song:  Bad Blood
     Singer:  Taylor Swift
     Holiday:  Halloween
     Candy:  Dark Chocolate, Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, Jolly Ranchers
     Dessert:  ice cream
     Season:  summer
     Restaurant:  Red Lobster
     Temple:  Salt Lake City and DC
     Scripture Hero:  Ammon
     Place to Go:  the VI
     What She Wants to Be When She Grows Up:  professional soccer player
     Best Friends:  Celine, Jayna, my mom (I swear I didn't just add that last one!)

Party Time!

Inspired by the kids' springtime obsession with the river by our house, I decided to throw Savannah a "Cool off at the River" birthday party. It was probably the easiest party I've ever thrown for one of my kids. As we waited for all the guests to arrive the girls played some small games and, once all were there, we headed down to the river.
 My greatest fear was that it would storm the day of the party because we had had a few days of rain that week but other than being a bit overcast, the weather was perfect. Thank goodness because I hadn't planned any backups.
The birthday girl on the muddy trail.

The girls were a bit tentative at first - the water was pretty cold.

Thank goodness for hot weather and brave souls, like Savannah, who jumped right in and got the party going.

And then the hot guy with the tubes showed up. The girls had a blast taking turns floating down the river!

Noah had a blast; he absolutely loves the river! I got to see all the reasons why he came home each afternoon telling stories of how he had "accidentally" fallen in the river. He's a water rat, that's for sure.

Xander seemed to be enjoying himself as well, ha ha!

If the girls weren't tubing they were doing splash wars...

or trying to dunk each other.

These two look like they're up to no good.

As I sat on "the Ariel rock" in the middle of the river, taking pictures and chatting with the girls as they floated by, Xander came up to me and calmly said, "Mom, you might not want to sit there because of the spider." I looked down and checked all around but couldn't see anything. He came up closer and pointed right by my bum but still I couldn't see anything. I finally got up and really looked and holy, moly, there was this huge spider hanging out within an inch of where I had just been sitting. Freak out time for mom!!

The afternoon flew by and all too soon it was time to head back up to the house. We took one last picture...

and then made the trek back.

We only had time for one quick game and cake before the parents started arriving.

Savannah has some great friends and it was such an easygoing, fun party! (Ashton, Sydney, Savannah, Celine, Sydney, Brooke, Jayna, and Kate)

Some final cute photos of the afternoon!

Recital and Rewards

It was with a great sigh of relief that we attended the kids' spring/summer piano recital. Getting the boys to this point had been extremely difficult - they had both lost their enthusiasm for playing and refused to practice. Both David and I hate throwing money drown the drain which is what paying for piano lessons had essentially turned into. Although I was fine with both of them ending their piano careers, I was not fine with quitting a month before their recital. David and I have never been above a little bribery so that's what we pulled out here: practice every day and perform in the recital and then each of them would earn a family dessert night. Three different nights, three different desserts. That did it! The kids were all on board and we got them to that final recital!
It's not like Xander was still thrilled about playing in the recital but at least he was there.

We never had any problem with this girl - she's practically perfect in every way, wink, wink.

The whole group waiting to get this thing started.

The theme of the night was Disney and Xander's piece was "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" from "The Lion King".

As usual, he wasn't nervous one bit.

Noah had initially been assigned the song "Under the Sea" from "The Little Mermaid" but that was a "princess song" and he refused. After a brief powwow with Catherine about this hiccup, she selected him to play "The Imperial March" from Star Wars for his first, and last, piano recital (thank goodness Star Wars is now a Disney thing).

He played it on the keyboard to give it the right sound and he absolutely rocked it! I was so proud of him!

And for some odd reason I have zero pictures of Savannah announcing her song or playing it. Hmmm, I wonder what happened there. She played "Reflection" from the movie "Mulan". What a beautiful, haunting song.
 The whole crew breathing a huge sigh of relief!

And getting a little silly.

My cuties.

The kids with their teachers: Savannah with Catherine.

Xander with Christian,

and Noah with Jonah.

Time to pay off some rewards! Noah chose Menchies, a frozen yogurt joint;

Chick-Fil-A shakes were Xander's pick;

and ice cream from Baskin and Robbins for Savannah. We all definitely benefited from the kids' perseverance!