A New Teen and Being Content

Our second born turned 13 today.  Both kids are now teenagers.  Introductions into an all teen house, has been mostly peaceful and easy; at least so far.  By no stretch of the imagination, do I expect this to last, but am enjoying the newness while it lasts. 

During cake and ice cream, this evening, I was reminded of a conversation with my mom, almost 13 years ago.  She'd asked something about how life was going with two kids.  We were in the middle of dinner.  Simon, Kevin, and I were at the table, while Ian was sleeping in the port-a-crib we moved into the dining room.  Everything felt right, it was where we were suppose to be, our family was complete.  The flash back to that moment, felt real again and very similar to that moment in time.  Everything was as it should be.  The good, the bad, the easy, the hard; it all was part of our lives.

Anyway, backing up to other parts of the day, we managed to pull off an outdoor party, in freezing weather.  I'm not normally one to have parties, in the middle of the week.  Our boys are in 10th and 7th and we need that time for school.  Weather forecast are predicting a lot of snow this coming weekend and I just didn't want to have to rearrange a party last minute.  So we plugged forward.  Ian and four of his friends hung out, played on an empty play ground, played in the woods, and played football.  The mom's froze and we moved to the vans.  They all had fun and we'll all eventually thaw out!  Thank goodness for wood stoves, firewood, and warm clothing afterward.

Our 13 yo seemed to enjoy his day.  The thank yous were flowing, without being reminded of.  He loved everything about the day and tolerated having to get school accomplished.

 favorite candy bar

 Had been begging for a small jar

of peanut butter for awhile.  At approximately

$2.50, we couldn't resist.

Another long asked for gift - Rubik 4 x 4!

Very contented new teen.  With his day wrapping up, the joy in the ordinary feels easy:

• easy to shop for new teen
• hot, Earl Gray tea (thanks friend)
• kids playing in the way cold
• friends willing to let their kids play in the way cold
• hanging out with mom's of only 2 kids (maybe that story will crop up on another day)
• teen happy with a white cake and chocolate orange frosting - nothing special about the cake this year
• home made, cookies and cream, ice cream - oh so tasty - almost better than CFA cookies and cream shake
• games around the tame
• another teen working hard to catch up on school work
• being content with what we have