SURRPRISSSEE!!!

 when dave turned 15 his parents threw him a giant party, when sadie turned 15 she had a big party, so it was inevitable because abe turned 15, a surprise party was in order.

we hired a band (some kids from abe's school), and sadie was our PR person.  she happily spread the word about the party.  dave was on lighting (which looked way better in real life) and he hung abe's disco ball, which we knew abe would love (even though it's wimpy) and we had a ton of food.

not surprised at all;)

 despite the fact that a teacher at school told abe, "so i hear you're having a birthday party this weekend and josh's band is playing?!"he thought his teacher had the wrong guy....and a girl on the bus asked abe why he didn't invite her to his party...and i was cleaning the basement like crazy...still didn't catch on.  then he went skiing with his buddy all day and they dropped him off to meet sadie for dinner -random....still completely clueless.

i liked watching his reaction.

the band sang happy birthday -i thought he handled it all so well.

he went around and shook hands- then, made a mad dash to his room 

to change and put on some cologne to cover up his skiing all day smell.

abe got an electric guitar for his bday and has been playing the guitar like crazy.  he was stoked to watch the band and didn't hesitate when they asked him if he played.
he was happy to perform.  

vivian was in on the whole thing.
she kept it such a good surprise.  she loved dancing, the finger lights, the people and abe.

 sadie was excited to support abe.  

her two good buddies came and stayed the entire party.  these three seniors were happy and fun the whole time.  some of the freshman left early or were a little hard to impress, it made me realize that being able to go into a situation and create fun and happy, instead of having a "this is dumb, try to impress me" attitude takes confidence and is a good skill.  these three have it.

 i was really grateful so many kids came out to support abe and wish him a happy birthday.  

he has some really good friends.  what a blessing.

 (max enjoyed the party too!)

we pulled it off!  

hope abe will remember fifteen as a happy happy birthday!

time flies

a few treasures i found while going through the basement.

 (sadie and dave)

 how can this little snow princess, with ugg boots tucked into her pants, be going away to college?!

sadie's applying for scholarships and it's impressive to read her resume.  

she keeps busy with good things.  

making progress

one of my monthly goals was to get my storage room cleaned out.

we have been in our house for almost four years.  time to get it done.

we decided to throw abe a surprise birthday party (details coming soon) and so it gave me a solid deadline.  i work better with a purpose and a deadline.

(this picture was after hours of work.  it was full of so much stuff)

it felt good to work hard, dejunk, and finally get organized! 

wax museum

 

max chose to be roald dahl in his class wax museum.
i loved pushing the button and hearing his prepared speech about this
famous person- whose books he LOVES. 

 i think max made a pretty good roald dahl, but an even better mini ralph (my dad)!  he looks just like him when he was a kid.  

dance class

morp

sadie went to MORP this weekend.

dave was working and i was in pleasant grove at kai's bball game, so it made me so happy to receive a text with this selfie--all ready to go.  

she had a fun group and was excited to go with good friends.

student government was in charge of the star wars themed dance....

so abe (not pictured) went dateless again:)

i had to leave so i asked abe to come up with a plan of how to get there and how i could help him.  he didn't want to ride with sadie and her date, so he decided i could drop him off at walmart and he would get a 50 cent soda and look around, maybe go to petco and the dollar store, then he would walk to the high school and get it all set up.   

and so he did;)

the force is strong with this girl:)

so glad i have her.  so, so glad.

homework

vivian learns great study habits from kai, who just brought home another 4.0 report card. 

 he works hard and wants to do well.  both great qualities.

i also went to max's SEP's this week and his spanish teacher said he is doing so well in spanish!  

i'm realizing my kids are a little timid sometimes and that is something i am trying to help them with.  it's not bad to get embarrassed or be shy, but i also want them to know they can choose to have confident behavior as well--something i have thought about this week.  

anyway, max's teachers both wanted to tell me he says thank you to them everyday.  

i thought that was awesome.