13 ~ An Official Teenager

It's official, we have a teenager in the house!

Kayla officially turned thirteen last Sunday, May 3rd but her birthday celebrations began on Friday evening when my parents came by to drop off her presents and to enjoy some social distancing visiting with us all.

They sang Happy Birthday to her and she danced along.

Kayla opened her presents and I made my mom and myself a cocktail to enjoy.   We all caught up for a couple of hours before they had to head home.  It was fun!

My parents are still social distancing themselves because we are all taking in consideration my dad and my sisters health.  Our state is still shut down for the most part but as you will see Chris and I have decided that we are okay with visiting with close family members now.  I know everyone has their own opinions and I respect everyone else's choice to do whatever they feel is necessary for their own family.  I however do not need to hear your personal thoughts on our choices so please keep that in mind.   Not meaning to sound rude but I have gotten comments on social media about our choices and they weren't just for being around family but also being told I'm rude for not letting my parents in.  Obviously the world is torn over this which is fine but please be considerate of everyone's personal choices!

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Saturday was our first big family outing in 7 weeks to go swimming at my father in laws in Palm Springs!  We were all so excited to be out and seeing more family.

We spent all day out in the warm sunshine and catching up.

Kayla was spoiled with her papa making her a favorite dish for dinner and cookies and ice cream for dessert.

We all had a great time swimming and I was glad we got to get out and have a change of scenery for Kayla's birthday weekend!

We got home and showered up and the girls were off to bed.  As soon as they were tucked in I did a little decorating for our big girl.

We had also invited family and close friends to come by to leave birthday wishes for our girl to wake up to in the morning.

Our 13 year old was up and ready to celebrate her big day!

She loved reading all of the messages that were left throughout the night.

I told Kayla she could choose her meals for the entire day and of course she chose donuts.   Not homemade but from the donut shop and she insisted she go with her dad to pick them out too.   She was only allowed out because it was her birthday, the girls have not been shopping or out to pick up food with either of us at all since this began.   Call me crazy but yes, they can be around family but no they will not be out and about at any stores or restaurants for I don't know how long.

An oreo donut was her birthday breakfast choice.

After her breakfast we let her open a few gifts that her friends had dropped off for her.

Brooklyn made Kayla's birthday dessert of choice, Chocolate Brownies with a whipped Peanut Butter topping.

Around lunch time my in laws came out to wish our thirteen year old a Happy Birthday.   We caught up in the backyard with them.

Just as they were leaving we had more visitors dropping off a birthday gift.

My brother, sister in law and their kids came by to add to the excitement of the day.

The girls spent some time playing on their Nintendo Switch before we all headed outside for the rest of the day.

I had bought a huge pack of water balloons so we had water balloon fights and did a water balloon toss.  We all had a blast and the girls really loved it!

We were soaked after!

We brought out all of Kayla's birthday gifts for her to open outside afterward.

Thank you hugs for her sister

While I was making dinner one of Kayla's besties who rode her bike over with her older sister came by to wish her a Happy Birthday.  They stood outside and chatted from a distance for awhile.

By the end of the day more people had come by and left notes for our girl.   The driveway was full and I was beyond grateful to everyone who took the time to do this for her!!!

Buffalo Chicken Pasta is a huge favorite over here and was Kayla's number one choice for her special birthday dinner.

Afterward we sang Happy Birthday and then she insisted she needed to shower and be comfortable in her pj's before actually eating her dessert so we took a break and got cleaned up before actually enjoying dessert.

She told me that this was one of her favorite birthdays yet and I could not have been happier.   She said she had so much fun with the water balloons and seeing everyone was so cool.   I could see in her eyes how special she felt when family and friends showed up to surprise her and just reading all of the chalk notes amazed her.   This was definitely a birthday our sweet girl will never forget!!!