August 26th Emma turned Sweet 16! The Saturday before, Emma celebrated by having some friends over. They sat around eating, laughing and talking for hours. I thought she should invite boys to the party, but she didn’t think so. Some of her school friends went in together and bought her a Polaroid camera. On Sunday after church Eliza and James created a really fun scavenger hunt for Emma. She had to solve clues and puzzles and it took about 1/2 hour to complete. At the end there was a present. She thought it was a chocolate bar. She opened it and it was an iPad mini — she screamed with excitement! John went out of town the next morning and Emma’s real birthday, Tuesday, was low key — cupcakes at seminary, a long day at school, play practice and homework.
I wanted to throw John a big 40th birthday party! Who turns 40 on a Friday night? So Exciting! He didn’t want to. So that night just the two of us went to a nice Mexican restaurant overlooking the Shanghai Bund. We made him a chocolate cake from scratch. He is too easy to please! A highlight for him was getting sweet and personal emails from several siblings and close friends.
We were thrilled to hear that Paul and Jenny had their 7th baby (Rebecca Larsen) on John’s birthday!
Eliza turned 12 on Wednesday, September 17th. She took cupcakes to school and her friends had decorated her locker with cards and candy. The Millers brought her brownies and our driver bought her a cake. The day was busy for everyone — we all weren’t home until after 9pm. She opened a few presents and we put candles on a brownie and called it a night. She looked forward to her party Friday night.
It was a crazy week with James breaking his foot that Monday and all three of the kids preparing to leave on their week-long school trips. Emma and James left Friday morning. That night Eliza had a party with 8 friends. We went to California Pizza Kitchen then back home for cake, ice cream and games! Sunday morning at 5:30am she left on her trip to Beijing.
Cute girls!
Brooke gave Eliza this wig. Other gifts from friends included: a Gap sweatshirt, jewelry, nail polish, cake decorating set, candy, and a towel and flashlight for Beijing. She got two of the same necklace so gave one to Tessa.