Emma, the new and true teenager

I don't get the math but it seems to happen regularly that the last day of school lands on Emma's birthday. However, the 7th graders get out a day before the 8th graders in order to celebrate their completion of middle school. So really Emma did not have school on her birthday. And Romney was beyond done, (see previous post), so the three of us spent the morning together doing fun stuff for the newest teenager in the house.

Of course first of all was breakfast (scones) and presents (I can't remember. I will have to ask her what she got.)

Oh yeah! She got headphones, a personalized stamp for books and a set of the 2nd Percy Jackson book series. Good stuff!

Then the girls and I went to a new fun place in the city called Space Tea which does boba teas and drinks and lemonades and stuff. Really fun spot. I got a brown sugar boba milk. You would not think that sounded good at all but it was delicious and highly sugary.

Next came a little shopping. Emma is growing like crazy right now. Poor Romney seems to have stopped growing but Emma has grown like four inches in a year or something. So we took her to the City Creek Mall and found a couple of cute things.

As far as the evening activities went, Emma had them all planned out and took care of it. She just needed a chauffeur. And a credit card. She has a group of friends at school, most of whom I don't know at all. She invited them over for dinner and games. It was kind of hilarious - I didn't do any of the communicating about this party at all. And the parents of the party guests were for sure wondering who this person was and if their kid would actually be safe with them. One dad poked his head in the door to say hello and meet me and it turned out to be a guy I went to high school and Theater School for Youth with - we both kind of yelled and then hugged a lot. He said he guessed he felt pretty safe having the party at my house.

It was really just three kids plus Emma. We piled in the mini van and drove off to Milcreek for a Thirst run and to pick up Emma's favorite food: Cupbop. 

I love driving groups of excited kids around

We went to a nearby park to eat and talk and I tried to stay invisible but did not do a great job. It's hard for me not to insert myself into conversations, even among 13 year olds. 

After eating at the park we went back to our house for games. The kids played JackBox for a while but wound up filming some very enthusiastic improvised movies. I have not seen these movies yet, apparently they are still in the editing room.

It was a grand birthday for Emma. I'm so pleased that she has made friends in the challenging realm of middle school. Yay Emma! We love you!

Here's the one friend I did know - a friend since before kindergarten!