Shiloh's Teenage Beginnings - 13!

While she has been taller then me for quite some time and seems older, Shiloh finally reached the teenage years!

She wanted her birthday party to be the following Saturday, but we still celebrated her with our family on her actually day!  Starting out with a latte and bagel breakfast sandwich on a beautiful Saturday morning.

The Grand Lovelands came over later for gift tive and gave her a sweet one.

As did Zoe, with an IOU, as it hadn't come in the mail yet.

Shiloh is at the age of being very particular on what she likes and helped me pick out her gifts.

This girl loves her some shoes.  She is now up to a woman's 11.5!  You can stop growing now!

Brother gave her an alarm clock.

That night we headed out to Red Robin, as Shiloh loves burgers.  While we waited for a table, we did some shopping next door, and Zoe wanted me to pause and see the sunset!

She was pleased with the meal (and managed it eat a few oion rings before I remembered a picture).

Then it was off to her fav, ice cream.  We tried out Handles for the first time.

These girls sure do like to giggle, and it is so nice when they are getting along.

The rest of us where there, too, but somehow I only manged to get pictures of the girls.

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The following Saturday, Shiloh was all about a neon, glowing party to celebrate her big day. We hosted it at the cafe after it closed. Shiloh investigated Temu and came up with some fun simple party decor that turned out really welll.  I'm alway so nervous about this type of thing, as I am not a good visionary and not sure how it will all come together, especially with a tight time limit.

While I didn't get a huge group pic of everyone (I should have tried), we did get a group of the kiddos...

and with the flash on.

Those on the cheer team to represent!

Some of Shiloh's besties!

Zoe had a couple of friends there as well.

While Shiloh did not want to have any planned games, there were some spontaneous games that popped up.

Cake!

And presents...

Thankful for the space to pull off her vision and that she had a great time!  

While she may have seemed like a teenager long before now, Shiloh was excited to enter this new stage in life.  Beach and I are so thankful for the special young lady that she is and that we get to be her parents.  There is no slowing this one down! Happy teenage years Shiloh, may God lead and you look to him to navigate all these new waters!

In Between the Sickness (Feb '25)

We kicked off the month with more sickness, and honestly it was sprinkled in for at least one family member (with possible different things) struggling throughout the month.  It can be pretty discouraging for this to feel constantly unending.  When one person would seem to get better, another would go down.  

There were thankfully some bright spots in the month as well...

Zoe was very excited to get behind the wheel and drive a bit in an empty parking lot.  Beach was brave and took her out.  A new first for us, ushing end an new era that I don't feel ready for.

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Poor thing was sick yet again for several days and would want to be near me if she could.

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My sweet little 5th grader wanted to go to his school dance (despite me asking several times if that were true).

He doesn't love public dancing, so I wasn't sure how it was going to go.  I almost thought it wasn't when he was not feeling well the day before, but he popped back into the swing of things, and didn't want to miss this opportunity. This season in life is coming to a close, so with 20 minutes for me to get ready and eat dinner (and hair that was still sweaty) off we went...

Glow in the dark themed, and Ezra's favorite part....the snacks!

This backdrop was fun...

and Ezra wanted to take a picture of just the backdrop.

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The next morning Ezra went to his district's science fair with his group project.

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We celebrated February birthdays with my extended family.

Presents.

One day (and a few years) apart.

It is always good to be together.

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Selfies found on my phone for the month....

Neighbor friend even got in on it.

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I had an amazing massage at The Well by my awesome friend, and she had a treat for me afterwards (recommend her hands down if you are wanting/needing one).  A very unexpected wonderful surprise!

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Last basketball game of the year to end out the season.  Shiloh was the back spotter on the left.  So proud of this team.

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Valentines Day lined up when just Ezra had a day off of school, the weather was beautiful, and they had free Fridays at Riverbanks zoo.  It's been a long time since we have been to the zoo, so I rearranged my schedule to make it happen!

While I always love having all my kids with me, it was, also, great to have one on one time with Ezra, and following his pace and desire to see things.

Bright sun warming us on a cooler day.

I am always just blow away at God's creativity and so many different things on earth!

Ezra wanted me to sit here as well, despite me not fitting, to take a picture (obliging even though I knew it would be very aquard/bad andgle).

We hiked up to the gardens for some play there!

Someone was headed out and gave us their couple tickets that Ezra gratefully used on the carousel!

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Beach was happy to get to spend some time with his older brother while he was in town.

We enjoyed breakfast at the Gand Lovelands' house.

A special time full of many stories from their childhood!

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That weekend Shiloh set up the kids table with some Valentine themed decor.  She, also, made chocolate covered fruit.  Unfortunately Zoe ended up getting sick, so she couldn't enjoy such!

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Ezra loves avocados, and his little avocado lego like guy.  He did a photo shoot with him in several different places.  His favorite photo from the series...

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The girls were excited to go to Winter Jam with me (a first for all of us).  Unfortunately Zoe was sick still and not able to join us.  So Shiloh and I had a loud fun outing (but missed her)!

It is open seating and she wanted to sit on the floor.

At one point the artist came right on a mini stage next to us.

So we got a backstage view 😜

They really put on a great show (and over 4 hours at that) and I was thankful we were able to make it!

We went home tired with hurting ears but filled!

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Shiloh came home from her end of the season cheer banquet with a couple of awards and had a great time.

Captain award to cap off such a fun season for her!

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When I recruit Ezra to be my model for a quick work post....

Ok February...I'm ready to move on to warmer weather and hopefully better health....bring on the March birthdays!