Heather's Birthday

We now have a 14 year old in the house!!! I think she had a pretty good birthday, the celebrations went on for almost 2 weeks, not many kids can say that. It started on the morning of her actual birthday, Tuesday, April 19th. She opened a few presents (Harry Potter 7, part 1 on Blu Ray) and her cell phone (yes, we wrapped it to give back to her. She had lost it for a few indescretions and got it back 10 days early since it was her birthday).

Then we took her out to breakfast at Panera and then to Randalls to buy some cookies to take to school to pass out to her friends. Paul gave her the option of missing PE so she wouldn't have to wrinkle her dress in her locker (PE is her first class) but she chose to go to school. It kind of makes us laugh b/c Heather talks about French as being her least favorite class and PE as her 2nd least favorite so we were not expecting her to decide to go.

The Misty Bus dropped Heather off at school and then drove the boys to Pre-School. My mom kindly offered to keep the boys after their school got out so I could take Heather to get a pedicure. She actually had a gift certificate from Christmas that paid for the pedicure but I bought her 15 extra minutes of massage and the designs on her toes. I think she really enjoyed that.

When we got home, there was a lovely bouquet of flowers waiting for her from Paul's mom. Many of the flowers were purple, the vase was purple and Heather said they even dyed the water inside the vase purple. She was so excited to get flowers on her birthday!

At 6 PM her mom came and picked her up and they had pizza and a homemade cheesecake her Nanna made her. Heather also got a very pretty ring from her Nanna. Her mom promised to take her shopping for her 8th grade formal as her birthday present. They went on the 28th and Heather said she loves her dress and that it is red. I am hoping she will post some pictures of it on FB next week and then I will share them here. Normally on Thursdays Heather goes to her mom's house for visitation but Friday was a holiday (Good Friday) and so she was supposed to come here after school. Heather had been telling us how excited she was that her Nanna was taking her and her sister Melody to Taste of Texas and when we realized that she was supposed to be here we figured we would still let her go. The conversation went like this

Paul: You know, you are supposed to come here after school on Thursday. . .

Heather: No, my mom drops me off on Friday morning at 7:30

Paul: That is during the summer, during the school year, most transfers happen before/after school.

Heather: OK

Paul: Well, is there anything you want to ask me?
Heather: (lost look -- probably thinking her Daddy is crazy)

Paul: Aren't you supposed to go out to dinner with your Nanna on Thursday? Do you want to ask me something?

Heather: (About to cry look -- still isn't saying anything)

Paul: Heather, do you want to ask me anything?

Heather: (in a small voice) Can I go?

Paul: Yes! If it's OK with your mom and Nanna, just ride the bus there after school and have them bring you back after dinner. No need to hurry, just enjoy your dinner. Why don't you call your mom and make sure that is OK with their plans.

Heather runs upstairs, calls, comes back down and seems angry

Paul: Is everything OK?

Heather: (In an angry voice) Yea, that's fine

Paul: Is there something you should say, like maybe thank you Daddy?

Heather: (starts crying)

Teenagers are an interesting breed, aren't they? I did go talk to her and we chatted about many things and she seemed to feel better, but I never did get a comprehensible response as to her emotional outburst. Oh well, we'll just chalk it up to being a teenager. She did go out to eat with her Nanna, PopPop and Melody on Thursday and had a wonderful dinner. She was in a great mood after dinner and very happy she was able to go. Here is the picture taken at the restaurant.

On Good Friday, we cleaned the house, dyed Easter eggs (that will be in my Easter blog) and April & James came to Houston and took Heather out to eat at Chuy's. Then they took her to see Rio & Soul Surfer at the Show Boat Drive In in Tomball. We decided to take the boys to see Rio and also brought Heather a chair as April & James only had 2. We brought the football and soccer ball and all had a very good time playing while waiting for it to get dark. Here is a picture of Heather NOT throwing like a girl -- she made a pretty good pass! I am so proud!

When the movie started, Zachary was pretty good for about the first 30 minutes. He was fascinated with all the birds and excitedly repeated the word "BIRD!" every few seconds. Then he got antsy and wanted to play. Since the movie didn't start until 9ish and his bedtime is normally 7:30, we were hoping he would be ready to sit and cuddle after hours of playing and running outside. Nope, he wanted to play so I spend most of the movie walking around with him. When Rio was over, we packed up our stuff and left and April, James & Heather were supposed to stay for Soul Surfer but Heather started falling asleep and asked to come home. I think everyone was secretly happy about her decision b/c we all got a lot more sleep! Paul was going to stay up and wait for her and instead he got to go to bed much earlier.

The next morning April & James took Zachary and Caleb out to Chuck E Cheese b/c they were not able to come for Zachary's birthday. Then we all met at SmashBurger for lunch; even Bill & Jackie were able to join us. Later that day we had her family party. Caleb and Zachary were initially feeling shy and in the first picture Heather is pulling Caleb out from under the couch and in the second picture Grandpa is visiting with the boys while they hide under the table.

Grandma made Heather a delicious Red Velvet Cake and brought some candles that burned the color of the candle that totally fascinated Heather.

Grandma and Doug

Grandmom and Caleb

Heather opening her Whirly Pop machine

Heather's soda maker -- she LOVES this and uses it constantly

Grandmom, Grandpa and Heather

Daddy and Heather figuring out the soda maker

Caleb enjoying his very loud voice transforming toy

My mom took Heather shopping for her birthday and this beautiful Coach purse was one of her gifts. She also got 2 dresses, 2 pairs of shoes, a rug & mirror for her room.

Poppy watching Heather with the soda maker

Grandma brought the kids their Easter baskets and they had the confetti filled eggs in them. The kids had fun running around in the backyard smashing them on one another.

Caleb climbed up on the ladder to smash one on Heather's head and Heather very kindly obliged by standing there. Caleb couldn't get it to crack and just kept smashing it on her head -- it was hilarious! Eventually he just crushed it. Heather was a very good sport!