Happy 13th Birthday!!

HAPPY 13TH BIRTHDAY, NOLAN! 

Oh!  Where does the time go?  It seems that I blinked and you just suddenly grew up overnight.  You are a very smart young man who is wise well beyond your years and you definitely keep us laughing.  But you are also very kind and you care so well for others.  I love watching you grow up and become more and more responsible as you also grow in your love for Jesus and for your family.  I cannot wait to see what the future holds for you.  Dream big and always chase after Jesus.  I love you!!

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Since Noel and I were in Michigan on Saturday and wouldn't get home until 2:30 or 3:00 in the morning on Nolan's birthday, I had asked Morgan and Melayna to help me by decorating the house before they went to bed so that Nolan could wake up to the traditional balloons and decorations on Sunday morning.  Morgan said that everything was going alright until Nolan surprised them both by getting out of bed and coming back upstairs.  He just smiled and asked them what they were doing and then he turned around and went back to bed.

When we woke up on Sunday morning, the house was decorated and Nolan was already 13!!

As soon as Melayna came back home from church, we ate Nolan's requested dinner of chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese and then he would open his presents early in the day so that Morgan could head back to her college campus before it got too late.   (Her classes started on Monday morning and she wanted to have a chance to get settled back in).

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Nolan  joked that now that he's an "angsty teen", he had a few birthday requests. 

1.  No singing the Happy Birthday song because it's boring and repetitive

2.  No candles dripping wax on his cake - although we could put them other places around the kitchen

3.  No pictures taken of him during the day.  We already know what he looks like.  :-)

I really tried to abide by his wishes and just be present in the moment, so that means that I don't have any pictures of him opening his gifts or of him eating his ice cream cake.  We did eat Oreo ice cream cake together and then for his gifts, he received some money and gift cards from his grandparents, and then several books, some more supplies for his 3D printer, and this LED wolf light that he wanted.  

I did sneak this picture later on in the evening when he was playing Mario Kart with Melayna and he was busy trying to teach her how to drift better so that she could score higher points when they play together.

Since the day was busy with church and Morgan heading back to school in the afternoon, I told Nolan that we would just spend his actual birthday as a family but he can invite a couple of his friends over to hang out next weekend.  I think he was more than happy to enjoy one last quiet day at home before school starts back up on Tuesday.

Happy Birthday Nolan!  We hope that you had a great day!!

Melayna's 13th Birthday Cont.

The girls woke up Monday morning to all of the birthday balloons and headed right back outside to work more on their crafts.  I think they even ate breakfast out there.  I'm so glad that they were so content working on their crafts all morning.  Victoria was able to stay until 1:30 when we dropped her off so Melayna could go to her riding lessons.  (What a better way to spend your  birthday than riding a horse... at least according to Laynie!!)

We got home from riding lessons just in time to clean up and head off to VBS (which is a completely different blog post) and then after VBS was over, we came home to finish celebrating our girl.

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Melayna had requested an ice cream sandwich cake but she wanted to have cookies n cream ice cream as her filling so I made that up on Sunday and we all enjoyed eating that delicious treat before she sat down to open her presents.

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We all decided that we've sat around the house too long as Melayna couldn't even blow out 13 candles without using three of four tries!  LOL

It probably didn't help that we kept making her laugh...

Once again, Morgan, Marissa and Nolan all made home-made cards and Morgan gave Melayna a certificate towards the purchase of a book of her choice.  (Now that Morgan has a job, it's fun to watch her spending her money on her siblings)

Laynie took time to read each and every card first, including the coloring page that Nolan had colored for her.  He was especially excited for her to see it and wanted so badly for it to be a complete surprise.

Then she opened the two boxes from Noel and I.  She received a book about the Holocaust from us, but only because I waited too long to purchase the actual book series that she had requested.  When I finally went to Walmart to pick them up, I saw that they no longer carry many books in our store (or CD's either), so I had to come back home and order them online but they wouldn't arrive until well after her birthday.  (There goes my "mother of the year" award.... AGAIN!)

I printed off certificates showing that she would be receiving the books in the mail soon, along with the Casting Crowns CD that I also ordered (too late).  Thankfully Laynie is very gracious to her forgetful and busy mom and she was still super thankful!

I love watching the kids interact with each other.  

My heart is full.

Happy 13th Birthday, sweet girl. 

I love watching you grow both physically and spiritually.  Great things are in store for you and I can't wait to be in the front row to watch you experience them.

Melayna's 13th Birthday

We have another teenager in our house now!  

Melayna turned 13 this past Monday and I praise the Lord for the three wonderful teenage daughters that the He has blessed us with.  Seriously, I have been told for years that teenagers are "such a joy" as people laugh or roll their eyes, but we have found such joy and delight in all three of our teenagers up to this point.  I love experiencing life alongside our mini-adults as they learn and grow and prepare for their own life experiences.  And Melayna has always brought joy and laughter in abundance to our house, that is for sure.  

Since VBS is also this week and we knew that our evenings would be full, she invited a friend from school to our house on Sunday afternoon to stay for a sleep-over.  We picked Victoria up around 6:30 on Sunday evening and then came home to eat the birthday meal of ham, cheese, and egg bagels that Melayna had asked for.  Then Victoria gave Melayna a bag of Layne's favorite things before they took off outside to start another canvas painting and make some crafty bracelets.

After they finished up their crafts, they headed off to the trampoline to put together some "dance routines".  (Victoria is an award winning dancer who is always sharing her routines with us - it's so fun to watch her).  They wanted me to try to capture their routines both on video and camera.  I'd like to say that I did a stellar job, but unfortunately it was getting too dark and I just couldn't get clear pictures.

I did get a couple of great sunset pictures though.  The sky just kept getting deeper and deeper red.

And then pictures (mostly blurry) of their routine.

At 10:00 they finally came in and went downstairs to get ready for bed (and then stay up entirely too late giggling and chatting like girls do).  Once they went downstairs for the night, Morgan and I went to work decorating the house so when Melayna woke up on Monday morning, the first thing she would see would be the traditional birthday balloons.

Happy 13th Birthday to Marissa!!

Marissa turned 13 last Thursday.  

As tradition requires, she woke up to the array of balloons all over the house.

Since Thursday was busy with school during the day and the team swim party in the evening, Marissa decided to have her party on Friday night.  She wanted to invite the grandparents over for dinner and dessert and when I asked her what she wanted to eat, she asked for pizza from Walmart and brownies made from the box.  I was happy to oblige!!

Everyone showed up around 6:00 on Friday night and Nolan put out balloons where everyone was suppose to sit.

We enjoyed a nice dinner and time of fellowship and then she opened her birthday gifts.

Both sets of grandparents gave her money or gift cards that she can use where she wants.

Morgan made a hand-drawn birthday card and then took it to school and to swimming to have a lot of their teammates and classmates sign it or write a special message.  Marissa suspected that something was going on but she was definitely surprised at the number of kids who wished her a special birthday.  (And I was really surprised and proud of Morgan for taking the time to do something so sweet for her sister)

Noel and I bought her the King and Country CD that she wanted and a pair of Adidas pants that she has had her eye on for quite some time now.

Then it was time to light the candles and have some goodies.  

I love this picture!!  It makes it look like we had quite the fire going!!

She gets really embarrassed when people sing and take pictures of her so I had to do it on the sly from the side, but it was a great time of celebrating Marissa and the beautiful young lady she is becoming.

Happy Birthday Marissa.  We love you!!!