Happy 13th to Alison!

Alison contained her excitement pretty well leading up to her birthday, but apparently it all came out the morning of, as she was up at 3 am ready to party!  She may be 13, but some of her traits have stayed the same...like not wanting to sleep...ever.

We had breakfast together as a family; hashbrowns and grapes were her request, and then we let her open presents.

Ben found some Bath and Body Works hand sanitizer at the exchange.  That's a pretty big deal in 2020.

I think her gifts sum up pretty well a 13 year old Alison: sidewalk chalk (which also almost impossible to find right now), a bath bomb with a toy inside, make up brushes, candy, 2 books, a travel bag, a necklace, smash ball (a beach game), money to redecorate her room AND...

a hover board!

Funny parts of this video:

Ben wrote, from: everyone, but mostly daddy.

And after she opens it, Eli says, "Well, we're going to be on AFV"

While the hover board was charging and Daddy and the boys were at worship practice for church, Alison and I went out to do some shopping.  I let her pick where we went and lead the way.  Her first stop was to Starbucks and Target.

Then we went to Michael's to buy this wreath that she has been dying to get for her room.

Then we went up to Thousand Oaks and found a couple of thrift stores.  Did you know that thrifting is all the rage now?  She always stops to see if there's a designer bag hidden in there.

Then we picked up Chick-fil-A.  We had to eat in the car, but it was still fun.  Alison has always wanted to try ALL of their sauces, so we made that happen.

Then it was time to get ready to party.  Ben helped the kids figure out the hover board and then they were all super excited to make the punch.  Apparently we need to make punch more because it was a very novel idea to them.

You know you are living in a weird time in history, when what I'm about to post is considered pretty scandalous.  

We invited a few families from church over for a luau.

We had a hulu hoop contest and relay obstacle course race in the back yard to kick off the party.  Alison creamed everyone in the hulu hoop contest.

We had dinner; Alison requested appetizers and Ben smoked some meat to put on Hawaiian rolls for the adults.

This also sums up Alison...she invited Morgan and Noelle (her whole family came) and it was really important to her that Lindsey was there too.  Not many teens want a two year old at their party, but Alison was SO excited that Lindsey was there with them.

Then the kids played smashball

And we had cake!

Remember when Alison couldn't take a picture without posing?  It must be an age thing, because now Colin has it, but is choosing weird poses...

Alison said to me that day, "Good job, mom!  You've kept me alive for 13 years."  To which I answered, "Thanks!  You haven't always made that easy."

Which is true.  It's a miracle we survived Alison's first year of life, but maybe she got out all of the hard stuff early on because she is becoming the most remarkable young lady.  

Welcome to the teen years, my little girl!