Warning: There's a teenager in the house!

That's right.  I have a teenage son.  Am I really old enough for that?  It sure doesn't seem like it.  I swear I just graduated from college last week!

So, while I'm trying to wrap my brain about this fact, here's what we did to celebrate.

Since his birthday is during our Vacation Bible School, we kinda had to split it between 2 days.  But, we tried to do most of it on his actual birthday.  Everything was his choice until 4:30, then it was all VBS until 9:30ish.

The morning was nice and relaxed.  We had his favorite for lunch: pancakes.  I made special shapes for each of the kids.  J mostly picked things from the Xbox game Halo.  I thought I created those pretty well.  But, I took no pictures of lunch so you'll just have to take my word for it.

In the afternoon, we all got in our suits and headed to the pool.  It wasn't exactly a hot day for swimming, but it was nice.  And the pool was packed.  Thankfully, my kids can swim well enough that I don't have to get in with them.  I kept a close eye on Little A, however, since she's not quite to the point where I'm comfortable looking away for more than a few seconds.

J and K both went off the diving board.  All of them found new friends to play pool games with.  At one point, the lifeguards heard thunder so everyone was ordered out of the pool to wait for 15 minutes.  Then everyone could go back in.  I kept watching those darkening clouds.  This is one of those moments when I wish I had a smartphone.

Not long later, it started to lightly sprinkle.  I told the kids what time we needed to leave in order to get home, changed, and head to VBS.  About 15 minutes before that time, J said he was ready to go.  Great!  I hopped in the pool and swam a couple of laps (most of the kids had left by this point so the pool was not so crazy crowded).  Then, I told the girls it was time to go.

As we drove back home, it was raining lightly.  We got inside, changed our clothes, and then it just downpoured.  Heavy heavy rain....and we had to drive across town to VBS.

It was an adventurous drive to say the least.  Roads were dangerously flooded and if I did not have my SUV, I probably wouldn't have driven it through those deep puddles all down the road.  At one point, I looked in my rear-view mirror to see that the water was up to the headlights of the car behind me.  Others were struggling to make it to VBS also as it continued to get worse.

By the time VBS actually started, I think the rain had stopped.  We drove home on clear roads after another great evening.

We decided to let J open his presents that night and do his cake and ice cream.  It meant for a late night, but that's ok.  It's summer and we're night owls.  We'd probably be up that late anyway.

Saturday was the day we would finish celebrating with an evening at HuHot.  We love that place!  The cooks at the grill sang to him as we stood in line while they grilled our food.

And that was the end of his celebrations.

Just before turning 2, he became a big brother.

A few years later, another sister came along.

He was quite a helper.

And he recruited his sisters to join him.

They always had fun together.

He also has fun with his cousins.

His first year at camp.

This year at camp.

His first day of kindergarten.

After finishing 6th grade, he had earned several awards including these for the JROTC.  He was voted to be the Vice Commander next year.  OOH RAH!!!

 He is growing up into an amazing young man of whom I could not be more proud.  He has accomplished great things and I know as long as he continues to trust His Savior, he will accomplish many more.

Happy 13th birthday, J!  I love you!