Now I Have Two Teenagers...

Nathan’s birthday was really low key this year. He had his friend birthday party two weeks ago since we have learned from years past that no one is available for a party on Memorial Day weekend. He met a whole new crew of kids while he was in “Annie” and he wanted to invite them all and play improv games. This group is not a small group and we do not have room for 35 or so teenagers in our living room, so we scheduled the gym at the church and held his party there. He planned all the games and everything. All I had to do was provide food. So it was a totally easy party for me.

The night before his birthday was a trip to Desert Star Playhouse. He received this trip as one of his experience gifts for Christmas but when he was hopelessly torn between two shows, we offered to take him to see one for his birthday in addition to the one for Christmas. I didn’t think this show was as funny as the last one we saw, but Nathan enjoyed it thoroughly.

On his actual birthday he received his presents from his siblings and that was about it. He got his present from Kev and me (a stack of sheet music and the Desert Star trip) in advance so there wasn’t even anything from us. I usually try to get at least some balloons and a treat of some sort, but I was really off my game this year and totally missed that. So it was low key.

We celebrated with my family this evening. Nathan has a fondness for carrot cake so that was what I made, but he didn’t even care about having it decorated this time. I guess that’s just one more sign that he’s not a little boy anymore. Everything has been so laid back that I didn’t even take any pictures. Kev snapped one while Nathan was blowing out his candles and that is all we have.

Nathan has grown up a lot in the past year. He has found his place at the middle school and is doing well there. He is learning a lot and loving the learning. He is not as stressed out about the changes in homework and such and even his teachers have mentioned that he has relaxed a lot. He has found himself a big group of friends who have the same interests and hopefully, he will be as lucky as I was in that area and will find these friends sticking with him throughout high school and even beyond. And-one of his favorite accomplishments of the past year-he is taller than I am. ;-)

“If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane.” ― Robert Frost

Kev and I gave the kids "experiences" for Christmas. Nathan's first experience was this evening. We took him to see a show at Desert Star Theater. For those of you who have never been, Desert Star is one of those theaters that makes fun of pretty much everything. Kev and I have both been on multiple occasions, our first date being one of them, but the last time we were there was just after we got married. So it has been a good long while. The show Nathan chose to see was "Into the Hoods." We laughed and laughed. Nathan didn't get all of the jokes but he caught a good number of them. I have a feeling he's going to want to go back.