Our First Teen

On Saturday, September 24, Alison turned 13 years old, forever changing our family. We now officially have a teenager in the house.  It feels like we've had a few teens running around here for years, but now it's official.

Words can NOT express how much I love this girl!  She is spunky and strong and kind and dependable and intelligent and deeply thoughtful and spiritual.  She is also occasionally a big pain, but so am I, so it all works out.

She was super excited about me taking her picture. The afternoon before her birthday, she had a few friends over to hang out and celebrate. I got her a cake and some treats and they watched old barbie movies from their childhood.  But I forgot to take a single picture.  

The younger siblings got more excited by presents than the actual birthday kid. That is, until they saw that it was basically books and make up.    

One of the books she got was the latest Harry Potter installment.  Shortly after breakfast, she disappeared.  I found her hiding out in Quinton's room - half way through the book.  

Like all Saturdays, we were busy running around to various soccer games in the morning, but she was perfectly fine staying home and reading. The rest of the day was pretty normal. For lunch, she chose chicken pot pie and artisan bread dipped in balsamic vinegar and olive oil.  We had to celebrate with the family early because we had other plans for the night.  Here, she is showing off the coveted birthday plate. 

The birthday cake of choice was "Pretty Darned Good Cake (aka "Better Than A Lot Of Things Cake") except with a white cake instead of chocolate.  It was very, very sweet, but we managed.

She got that Harry Potter T-shirt for her birthday.  

That evening was the semi annual General Women's Conference for our church.  Since it was Ali's birthday, we decided to make a fun girls' night out of it.  We went over to Grandma Smith's house and ate a FEAST while watching the conference.  Katie and Megan were there too.  What a great night! 

After the conference ended, we stayed and chatted for a while.  Then, we headed home and watched Captain America: Civil War with David.  We were up WAY past my bedtime.  But I think it was a fun, super-packed birthday for our first teen.