Happy birthday to our Rose! She turned 14 on Friday, February 7th. The big 1-4! Fourteen is basically the beginning of the end of a teenager's time at home! Waahhh! It seems like everything goes full steam ahead once they hit 14. Rose will start high school later this year. She will get her driver's permit in one year. Etc. etc. etc. the ball keeps rolling faster and faster after that.
Birthday celebrations started off with a slice of "birthday preview" cheesecake the night before Rose's birthday. Jeff and Jay were at a swim meet, so it was just us girls at home. We had leftovers for dinner and then Rose had a piece of her Costco cheesecake for dessert. Since Jeff (and Jay) didn't get home from the swim meet till 11pm that night, I wrapped Rose's birthday gifts all alone and placed them with the birthday banner by the fireplace. I placed each individual item in its own gift bag to expand the special birthday present vibe as much as possible.
Rose opened her presents before school on the morning of her birthday. This was the first time she submitted a list of gift ideas without me asking, and I have to say it made things so easy! The gift-giving center of my brain must be stunted or underdeveloped because once my kids stopped wanting toys, I stopped being able to think of gifts for them. We gave Rose 3 coloring books, a 72 pack of colored pencils, a swim parka, and a hair dryer. (The hair dryer was the only gift that was not on Rose's list, but I thought she might like it.)
Amber gave Rose a handmade paper card with a $10 bill inside. I asked if it was the legendary sister $10 bill that Rose and Amber use to pay each other to do chores they don't want to do. That $10 has been passed back and forth between them several times over the past year. Rose said she didn't think it was that exact $10 bill, haha. Further reflection over past transactions between my daughters on my part led me to conclude that Rose was already in possession of the sister $10 bill. Since the only money Amber has is from her own birthday 3 months ago, the gift felt extra sweet. If there's one thing I feel happy that we've managed to nurture in our kids, it is generosity.
Friday was also the last day of swim practice for the high school boys' season. It was held in the barn because the fitness club pool was once again out of service with a broken part. After practice, Jeff brought one kid into our house. This sweet guy heard it was Rose's birthday, and he wanted to sing to her. He sang a slightly flat solo of "Happy Birthday" to Rose in our kitchen, then left. That kid didn't even swim on the team this winter--he wrestled--but he swam last year (and runs track & XC) and once wrestling season ended, he came to work out with the swim team in our barn. This is also the same kid who was a defiant angsty grump when he was in 8th grade on my track team. Now we love him so much. I love it when kids blossom. It was so sweet of him to sing to Rose.
We had Grampa Dan, Grama Leslie, and three cousins (Tate, Grayce, and Cole) over for Rose's birthday dinner on Friday night. Macaroni and cheese, pulled pork, and salad, with cheesecake and macarons (from Costco) for dessert. The kids played with their cousins in the basement for around 2 hours before the night came to a close. We love our Rose!
1 comment:
I love Rose and her smiling eyes😍
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