The celebration continues.....

Makenna experienced Cheesecake Factory for the first time and was impressed with her birthday choice. Erin and I were pleased to be invited along; however, I picked up the bill so perhaps I should have declined. 

Makenna was the last remaining preteen on the planet without a cell phone, or so she believed. Nearing her thirteenth birthday, she created a persuasive power point presentation for us in a final attempt to convince us she was ready for her own phone. Greg and I had maintained sixteen was the right age for our children to acquire that responsibility; however, we have reached the point of finding Makenna constantly out and about with friends and no way to contact her. Public school is on the horizon next week and she plans to be involved in multiple activities so we decided to bend the rules. We didn't mention this fact to Makenna so she was in no way expecting a phone for her birthday. It was a fun surprise.

Last night we hosted a houseful of her friends for a bonfire. They joined Jill and Aaron who were visiting from Dayton for a lot of laughs, cupcake wars and hot dogs. It was a beautiful night and the perfect ending to Makenna's birthday celebration. Had I not been sitting and enjoying my time with Jill, I would have had the camera handy for memorable moments like my son chasing Jill's with a Nerf gun through the yard with a look of pure glee on his face. The teens covered in icing from impromptu food fights may have also been photographed; although I would have had to acknowledge they were taking place in order to capture the evidence. I pretended not to notice in exchange for conversation.

All celebrations have concluded. We are now the parents of three teenage girls. Pray for us.