Quick b-day recap

So Ethan is officially enjoying his first full day as a 14 year old. 🙂

I think he had a great b-day! He seemed to be in good spirits and all smiles most of the day yesterday. Ivan and I both had to work, and Ethan actually did too (a shorter day, though- just 8 am- 12:30 pm yesterday).

He wants to do something for his birthday with friends, like a sleepover probably, but it wasn’t going to fit in well this week. So I think he’s looking at 2 weekends from now when we should be pretty open.

Per his request, last night we just went out for dinner to the Mexican place, because he “wanted a margarita”. Ivan’s mom, sister/ kids and brother all went along and it was a really nice time.

Afterwards we went back to our house for key lime pie (nothing fancy- store bought, and kind of our family’s b-day tradition) and presents. I put up some balloons and streamers and our handy reusable birthday banners. 🙂

(Birthdays feel simpler around here nowadays. I feel like when the boys were younger, I felt more pressure to do a “theme” of sorts for birthdays. Dinosaurs, Pokemon, Spiderman…whatever they were into at the time. Now I just pull out the same old birthday signs every year from the basement cabinet, pick up some balloons and call it good. Hosting “organized” birthday parties with a bunch of younger kids, coordinating everything with parents, planning activities, goodie bags, etc all felt like a lot more stress/ effort, too. Now Ethan is at the age that I think honestly all he wants is for a couple friends to come over and hang out, play video games and maybe throw a bonfire on. No matching plates needed. 🙂 Thank goodness, because I’m totally over the whole big “birthday party” thing.)

He seemed very happy with his special day, even though it was pretty low key. It suited him, I think.

His big present from us was a TV for his room!! 😬

I know, I know…I always said my kids wouldn’t have TVs in their rooms…but it just makes sense, given how they each play their video games at the same time, and often against each other… Can’t really just share one TV.

And I honestly don’t really like them gaming in “my” space constantly/ hogging our main TV all the time. Sometimes I just feel like saying, “Shoo, go away!!”

Our living room is right off the kitchen, and I just find it annoying to listen to. There still will be the same time/use limits, so I don’t anticipate any big changes otherwise. He is THRILLED though and feels very grown up/ teenager-ish now with his own TV. He’ll have streaming access, but we won’t install a DirecTV receiver in there, so no actual cable. He seems inspired to sort of start transforming his room a bit into more of a “teen hang out” space than it used to be, I think, with comfy pillows for lounging, and hopefully a new desk (incoming birthday gift from Grandma and Grandpa, I think…?).

Daily Gratitude:

I am grateful for Ivan’s mom being in town for Ethan’s birthday! She seemed pretty happy to be in the U.S. for his b-day, since many years she isn’t.