Another Teenager in the House!

Andrew turned 13 years old this month! He grew so fast and tall last year that I have thought of him as a teenager for a while, but now he is official. Due to a huge surge in Covid cases at the beginning of the year, we didn't feel like it was appropriate to have a friend birthday party, but we tried to make it special. 

Joe and Kym's family came down on Monday to go to Tucanos to celebrate the January birthdays. It has become a tradition that we get together at Tucanos to celebrate the adult birthdays in our families. Andrew is old enough now to get the free birthday meals, so I invited him to join in on our tradition. I also invited cousin McKay to join us so that Andrew had a friend. We had a great time, and Andrew felt like one of the big kids at his special birthday lunch.

There was no school on his birthday because of a professional teacher development day, so he got donuts for breakfast and then got to rest and relax while his brothers helped do his chores. For dinner, he chose rice, orange chicken, egg rolls, and potstickers. He loves Chinese food, so that wasn't a surprise for anyone. He doesn't really love cake, however, so I usually make him something else. This year he chose homemade oreos, which we all LOVE. I made them into a "cake" so that he could blow out the candles. They were delish! He got some giftcards (Panda Express and Amazon), a new wireless mouse, a Nintendo e-shop account, some sour patch watermelon candies, and some new clothes since all of his pants are high-waters now. After the party, we watched Merlin as a family. It is one of our favorite shows, and we have loved watching it all together.

Andrew is growing up so fast, and he is turning out to be such a fun kid. I have sometimes struggled with Andrew because he can be picky and stubborn, but he has so many great qualities. He is a very conscientious student. He is more like me in that way than any of my other kids. He cares deeply about getting good grades and puts lots of hard work into school. He is also very quick-witted. He says amusing things that make me laugh all the time. He reminds me of my brother, Daniel, in that way. He is the Deacon's Quorum President now and is always making sure that things are done correctly and takes his responsibilities seriously. I look forward to seeing what an awesome man Andrew will become.