Ally’s 13th Birthday Party

Well it finally happened. Ally is officially a teenager. 

As I write this she is actually in the living room watching a movie with her boyfriend Claudio. Becky and I are watching football in our finally finished 3rd floor. 

It’s been a bumpy weekend as life is for us right now but today we are basking in the glow of a successful party and a good night’s sleep.

Ally has practice at 7am Saturday morning but she was too tired to make it for that early start. But she was there at 8 to join in and brought munchkins to share with her teammates during break time. 

After practice she came home and opened her gifts.

Some jewelry. 

A whole pouch of rings. 



New Nike AirForce One sneakers she has had her eye on for months. This year she did a Pinterest board of things she wanted for her birthday it made things so easy! 

And none of these pictures were rehearsed. This is her honest raw glee and joy over gifts. 


Some cash from great Aunts and Uncles (thank you Suzie+Phil and Cindy+Denny).

Such fun.

Beth helped as usual and Becky and I are eternally grateful that she has helped us host 13 parties to date. 

Becky and I put the photo booth props together. Becky had to try out everything. So cute.

Beth and Becky manually blew up the banner and the 13.

Then it was all Beth and the helium tank. 

She inflated 50+ balloons. 

Ally’s friends Angie and Coco came over before the party started to hang out.

5 of Allys 7 teammates came. Katherine, Mia, Elian’s. Stella and Dahlia.

We figured out how to fit them all in for pasta dinner all 17 of them. 3 more came after dinner during games for the second half of the party. 



All of us had fun in the photo booth we set up in Ally’s room.

Ally and her teammates.

We  had 3 games set up

1) guess how old Ally is; we had 10 pictures printed out and taped up on the wall. 

2) how well do you know Ally? There were questions about her. 

3) get to know other guests; find guests in the group with various things

The games were a big hit and we had Starbucks gift cards as prizes.

An ice cream sundae bar was instead of cake again this year.









I think when your teenager posts to Instagram that she had a great birthday that is about as much validation as you can get as a parent. 

Last visit from the Tooth Fairy

Even though she has braces Ally still had 2 baby teeth. The orthodontist hoped they would come out on their own. But at her last monthly check up he decided it was time to pull them. The dentist gave Ally her 2 molars in a blue box and she left it on her nightstand. 

The next day before school I told her that since these final teeth had to be forcibly removed the tooth fairy had delivered a special package for her. But it was too heavy for the Tooth Fairy to carry upstairs and into Ally’s room. 

And a posed picture for posterity 

Team Bonding

Ally and her teammates had a fun Sunday afternoon of bowling. They have a new assistant coach this year and we wanted the girls to have a chance to get and know him. He helped out last year but now it’s official. 

They all had a lot of fun.

Team “righties”: Ally, Mari, Dahlia and Eliana

Team “lefties”: Autumn, Mia, Katherine and Stella

And with gymnasts there is always the obligatory handstand picture.

And high jumps! 

Happy Birthday Rosa

And another Guatemala Girl turns 13.

Then a break from pumpkin carving for games!

Classic who can eat the donut from the string first! Rosa won.

But they all had so much fun

And even played a second round.

Then it was gourd bowling! 

Rosa won again. 

But the moms played this too:

Love her. Love her pumpkin. 

Happy Birthday Alice

Alice turned turned 13!!!

I made her a friendship photo book for her gift.

And Ally wrote in it for Alice.

A couple school friends were invited this year.

Lizzie, Ally, Xela and Alice

Piñata bashing

Here’s to the next 13 years of friendship!

First Day of 7th Grade

Not sure how it happened. Lately the years and time just fly by. 

Ally started 7th grade.

Braces, contacts and still she seems confident and happy. Practice for level 6 gymnastics starts tomorrow night. 19 hours of practice a week this year! She is excited and ready to work hard at school and gymnastics.

Summer Bargain!

Ally worked hard all summer on her academics.

Every summer we require Ally to read and do math a certain amount every day. It lines up with her school summer homework expectations.

This Summer Becky and I had to push and nag her to do it. 20 minutes of reading everyday and 10 minutes of math. Reading is 7 days a week including vacation days and math is just 5 days a week and not on vacation. 

Before we left for California we made a deal with Ally that we would stop pushing her to do the work. Nagging is just not fun for her or us.

As soon as she met the summer goal we would buy her a new phone. She’s never had a new phone and has been asking for one for a while now. 

She did it.

She read 17 hours and 40 minutes and completed 11 hours of math! And earned her new phone.

So on August 16 we took her to get her new iPhone.

The sunflowers in our parking lot are so tall, Ally agreed to an impromptu photo shoot.

And at the Apple Store

Such a happy girl.