A birthday

Austin turned 13 on December 27th.  Having a birthday so close to Christmas has some benefits (if he doesn't get exactly what he wants for Christmas he just asks for it for his birthday...) but it also has some downfalls.  Most noticeable--we are almost never home on  Austin's birthday.  We like to spend Christmas in our own beds so we don't head out to visit Family until after Christmas.  We have spent Austin's birthday at the Hatch family Christmas party almost every year.  Last year we realized that Austin has never ever had a 'friend' birthday party so this year we decided to invite  some friends over a bit early.  They had a blast.  They played with Air Soft guns and practiced their tough guy poses and ate a lot of pizza  and treats dipped in chocolate.

We couldn't be happier to have Austin in our family and he is reaffirming our belief (and experience!) that teenagers are the reward for surviving toddlers.