Janelle's 16th Birthday, Parts 2 & 3

As I promised (warned?) you, Janelle's birthday was an ongoing party that wrapped up today. Well, wrapped up except for the inevitable shopping trip that will occur soon so she can spend all the gift cards/cash she acquired from her very generous friends.

Wednesday, May 28, was her "real" birthday. I brought her lunch, cupcakes and a helium balloon to her at school at lunchtime. She was happy & embarrassed all at the same time, but she said that having to walk through the halls carrying the balloon got her more birthday greetings than she's ever had at once in her whole life.

After school we sat her on the couch and gave her our gift - a laptop computer.

She was absolutely shocked and thrilled! She's been saving for one for a long time but was only halfway there, so we decided to reward her for her diligence. We figured a 16th birthday deserved a bigger than usual gift. I made a special dinner for her that evening and we had cake.

Today she invited her school friends over to hang out, watch a movie and eat food (much of which her friends brought!). Here's Nadine, Sharaya, Julianne, Ellen & Janelle. Two other girls weren't able to make it.

I am, of course, so very thankful for Janelle, and also for the many great friends God has blessed her with here in Beaumont.

The Month of Janelle

We've renamed the month of May. Get used to seeing blogs about Janelle! She turns 16 on May 28, but the celebration is lasting more than one day.

It started with a party with her "church friends" (this is pretty much the entire grade 8-12 female population of the church). For those of you who are familiar with Hillsongs United (a Christian worship band), they have created a feature length movie highlighting the band as they tour around the world. They had a special "pre-release" one-night-only showing in movie theatres across Canada (it comes to the U.S. later - we're more special up here!!) last Wednesday night. So Janelle gathered her church friends for pizza and presents at our house, followed by a trip to the movie theatre. It was, apparently, "AWESOME"!

This is the gang before the movie. Don't they look like a real quality group of young women? Janelle has great taste in friends!

OK, here they are looking a little less normal.

That's Ashley, our youth pastor's wife, on the far left in the back. Janelle invited her to come, but told me I wasn't invited. Janelle's exact words: "Sorry, Mom, but Ashley's way cooler than you."

The others are (left to right):

Back row: Fraikua, Janelle, Karyssa, Marriya

Front row: Cari, Amanda, Marissa

Look for more updates during the month of Janelle as she celebrates with the family on the 28th and her school friends on the 31st!

A First Time for Everything

Her first smile...her first step...her first day at school...the first time she brought a boy home...her first driving lesson...her first scratch on the van...

This is our little girl polishing her first scratches out of the van after her first driving lesson with dad. Brake...gas...they sort of feel the same until you step on them. Jumped a curb in a parking lot and hit a chain link fence, which fortunately stopped her from going over the 6 foot embankment on the other side.

Andy's blood pressure has finally returned to normal about 24 hours later.

Mother's Day

I don't have any photos from my Mother's Day, although I had a lovely day. I do have some photos from May 18th, when we went to Red Deer to celebrate Mother's Day with my mother-in-law, and also celebrate her birthday.

On Mother's Day my daughter woke me up by bringing me breakfast in bed! And not just any breakfast - a 3-egg omelet with onions, peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms & cheese, plus toast and juice. Wow! It looked like something I'd order in a nice restaurant! She had walked to the store the day before and bought some of the ingredients with her own money. I was very pleased!

After church we went to brunch at one of the local golf courses. Yum! Andy & Calvin both gave me cards, and Calvin made me a coupon book. Amongst the normal coupons like "Good for one hug", there's one that's good for "One frog hunting". Interesting...

Mother's Day for the last several years has meant spending the evening enjoying the finale of one of my favourite TV shows - Survivor. It was a great, completely relaxing day!

Below are photos of my family & my mother-in-law with her little dog, Millie. We went down to their house and brought all the "fixin's" for a BBQ. It was lots of fun together, and nice for my mother-in-law to be able to relax in her own home rather than going out, but not have to do anything. Both of my kids helped cook mushrooms and make salad without even being asked! I didn't even know Calvin could cook mushrooms, but he did. A really nice day for everyone!