Mark's Birthday

I love this picture. I took it just messing around in the car.

Aaaah. It's birthday season in our house and I am falling behind (in blogging--not quite yet in the birthdays themselves).

Last month Mark turned 12. How is this possible, you ask. I'll tell you, I don't know. But it happened anyway. For his birthday he decided he wanted an ipod touch. He was looking at 1's and 2's on Amazon. Kip and I took (sort of) pity on him and found a number 4 (model 4--not sure what the correct i-terminology is here) that was fairly inexpensive. And we bought it. It seemed like the right sort of time to get him a device that he could learn to use and also learn to control his little tween emotions over. I felt like it was kind of important for him to learn to use a device without letting it consume him. What better way to do this than to have your mother threaten to take it away from you every 30 minutes. Only today Mark said, "I think you like my ipod more than me, so you have something to take away every time I don't do something you want me to." True enough.

Anyway, he really really likes the dern thing, and he is doing a pretty good job at not abusing his privilege with it.

His actual birthday was a slow and perfectly pleasant day. We opened family gifts and had a family party (aka dinner and cake--really a brownie because that's what Mark requested).

In my continuing efforts to be worst parent ever, this is the only picture I have from Mark's birthday. Kip likes to take video. And at Mark's friend party, I was too busy weighing the pros and cons of faking my own death in order to get an ambulance/hearse ride out of there to take any pictures.

Note: I may have some other bad pictures on my phone. Will check. 

Besides a (for us) expensive birthday gift, Mark wanted an (for us) expensive birthday party--not that he put it in those terms. But he wanted to do something for his birthday besides run around outside with his friends, which is my usual cheapskate fallback for birthday partying. So I found a Groupon for laser tag and mini golf and he took his four best friends there the day after Mark's birthday. They played laser tag and then golf. And the girls played a few video games for which they got, like, 12 tickets, which they could redeem for--let me think--absolutely nothing. So they wanted to spend $20 more dollars on games so they could finally get a lollipop, which cost 70 (yes--70!) tickets, and I said 'no.' And they whined and whined. And then they played on this play thing. And then this nice teenage worker let them get some cheap plastic dinosaurs for their paltry tickets. And they loved the dinosaurs and gave them names. And then Emma got to play golf since under 5's are free. And then she shared her golf club and ball with the girls (and, yes, that is the kind of mother I am--I made them share the free club/ball--and I did not even feel a tiny bit bad about it at all).

And then one of Mark's friends had brought a bunch of money so they played video games in the very loud video game area and basically had the best time of their 12-year-old lives, while the girls played in the play thing and tugged on my sleeves and also had a perfectly fabulous time. And I wished that the lights and noise would throw me into a seizure so that I could just wake up and not remember any of it later.

Did I mention that Kip was at work?

Did I also mention that I had told the parents to pick their kids up around 7:00, but at 6:50 the boys were not even halfway through mini-golf, so I kept calling the parents and postponing the time. And the night wore on and on with boys and girls in a blissed out fervor and me in a headached stupor.

After they were finally played out, I took the kids back to our house for "cake"--really a BYU mint brownie, and spaghetti (not in that order). It was 8:00 and I was super super starving. The kids were screaming and wrestling and I needed to wait for one parent to come and pick up so I could take the remaining two boys home. And finally at 8:30 she got there and I wanted to cry with relief and then I took the other boys home.

And then Mark was so so happy when I tucked him in and I managed to hide the fact that I was about to go into my room and scream into my pillow and I'm really glad I did because he was just so happy and it was a great day for him.

Phew. Yes, I did just vent on my son's birthday post. And, yes, it felt kind of good.

I love you Mark. Even if I never want to go to Walther's Golf and Fun ever ever again.

Mark--age 12

Favorite color--He says it's shocking pink, but as near as I can tell from the clothes and things he likes, it's more like navy blue.
Best Friends: Peter, Caleb, Aiden, Isaac
Favorite sport: soccer
Favorite hobby: Pokemon maybe or reading fantasy books
Favorite subject: Science
Favorite books: Jinx, Septimus Heap, Percy Jackson (and mine, of course, which he says is the best)
Favorite band: Need to Breathe