Adam's 12th Birthday

This weekend was so fun! We drove "back home" Friday night to stay over with John's parents. Saturday was their big Christmas Shin-Dig. Way fun to spend more than an afternoon with everyone. Got to see my Dad on Saturday too.

Sunday, however, was Adam's 12th Birthday! We went to our old church Sunday morning - Adam was *so* excited to be able to see his old friends. I let him open one of his gifts before church... "Men's Cologne." There's a particular girl "back home" that he "loves." (Well, actually, he loves her and her twin sister both...)

Between Sunday School and the morning service, the girls' mom came up to John to tell him that Adam came up to her and said, "Mrs. ---, I have cologne on!" He was awful excited about his new Man Stuff.

After church we took the whole family to Chuck-E-Cheese. The kids hadn't ever been there, and after the episode at the Burger King Play Area last month, I was excited to give him a giant Play Ground that he could enjoy without feeling his "tallness" too acutely. It was hard to wipe the smile off that boy's face! He and his papa and grandpa had alllll kinds of fun with the video games, etc. Adam got a paper crown and a balloon and cotton candy, and WOW, was he excited!

But for as excited as he and the girls were, they were also really, really, really good. We couldn't have gone here much before now without worrying about the kids getting too out of control wild, crazy, and just plain over-stimulated. But, we figured they were ready now, we were ready now ($$), and we know that Adam isn't getting any littler. Besides, I've waited a good long time to get to plan a birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese! One of those "can't-wait-to-be-a-mom" fantasies to finally realize.

Liana went to stand at the foot of the stage where Chuck-E and friends were singing... I was watching her to see what she would do... The Old Liana would have been up there on that stage in about two seconds flat. Wanna know what she did? She calmly turned around, walked back to me, politely asked me if she could go up on the stage to see how the robots worked, and when I told her that wasn't a good idea and that nobody was supposed to go up there, she said, "Ok!" And then walked back to her spot by the stage to calmly continue watching. I. Couldn't. Believe. It. I had to give John a High-Five on how far she (and the other two) had come these last few years. Remember when Liana *had* to press the bar on the Emergency Exit door at the library? Or when she and the others wouldn't quit turning the lights on and off at the post office? Or when she pounded on the neighbor's house because This wasn't America? Yay, those days are over!