Rachel turned 13! We officially have a teenager. Because of COVID she didn't have a friend birthday party, and didn't really want a family birthday party other than some cake at our normal Sunday dinner with everyone.
Because her birthday was on a Friday all the kids were home for the day (hybrid learning has Fridays as remote learning for everyone so the teachers can have time to make videos for remote learners and connect with them through conferences). Rachel opened her presents right after family scripture study to get the most important part of her day taken care of early.
She was very happy with her new Mathemachicken shirt (which has a picture of a chicken doing math on a chalkboard) and her new Llamas Unleashed game. New books and mint M&Ms were a big hit, too.
Her friend, Eliza brought by a couple more bags of mint M&Ms as a gift later that day. Since we would be celebrating Ben's birthday that evening with pizza, Rachel got to choose lunch, and I was happy to comply with her request for Panda Express.
She mentioned that it was her best birthday every because she didn't have to go to school, got Panda Express to eat, and extra screen time that day.
All she wanted to do to celebrate birthday was a Ninjago marathon. She watched a season and a half over the course of the following day (Saturday). We did make everyone get up and go on a bike ride to get a break from the TV, which she was unhappy about. Later the kids went over to Todd and Savannah's to play, and Rachel stayed and watched Harry Potter 7-part 2 (HP8?) with me.
Sunday Rachel wanted to decorate her own cupcakes, so she made a variety of designs, including one just piled with frosting because frosting is her favorite.
Grandpa Knight got her some *lovely* dangly clip on earrings. They actually looked better on her than anyone expected. I guess her long hair and dangly earrings go well together.
Rachel is turning out to be a great teenager. I've been looking forward to having a teenager for a while (though also not looking forward to it at times when my kids remind me of their stubbornness). I've had previews over the last year of how fun it is to have a teenager living in our house, with her sense of humor, fun friends, her creativity, ability to babysit and hold down the fort when needed, and having a buddy to watch more mature movies with (not always cartoons). I look forward to the coming years as she learns and becomes more independent and capable and hopefully ready for the real world. In the meantime, we'll enjoy her humor and what a great big sister she is. I'm so thankful to have her in our family.
"I am the Lorax and I speak for the trees!"
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