Happy SWEET 16th birthday to Erin! She has completed a busy and exciting year, and has another one coming up ahead of her! She had a full week of celebrations, beginning on Saturday the 19th at a fun lunch at Grandma and Grandpa's house, followed by the Buddy Walk in Kannapolis! We had Bojangles and cupcakes, then walked them off together on a beautiful day!
On her actual birthday, Wednesday, Erin had a very busy day at school, including hosting an 8th grade shadow student for the morning (giving him a tour, taking him to an orientation meeting, and taking him to two of her classes) and taking a math test. After school, she relaxed for a bit, then we enjoyed a nice ham and noodle casserole dinner (her request) and chocolate-chocolate cake from Publix together, followed by presents! She was so excited to get tickets to the Pentatonix concert in Raleigh at the end of November.
The grand finale was her murder-mystery dinner party with her friends on Saturday evening. She invited her "monthly hangout" group of friends from middle school, and all seven of them were able to come! Olivia came over early and the two of them made a delicious and beautiful cake together. Everyone else showed up at 6pm and had pasta and salad from Cristo's near us. Most of the friends' moms stayed too, and we had a very nice time sitting on the porch and visiting! After dinner, the game began. Erin had sent them their characters ahead of time, and everyone came with costumes! We got a murder mystery game kit that was easy to print out clues for each of the three rounds. We took the simplest option for the game and cut out all of the extra parts to keep it easy. They did a great job of divulging their clues to others and getting info from each other. At the end, they all took turns guessing who they think was the killer...which nobody got correct! So, I think it was enough of a challenge for them. After that, they enjoyed the amazing cake! Erin, Jeff, and Olivia even got to work in a wild game of Pictionary after everyone else left. It was a really fun evening, and Erin enjoyed it so much.
So, 16. Erin is truly a remarkable person. She works so hard every day and always does her best. I like to joke that she makes me look disorganized (and I brag about being organized myself)! She has tried so many new things recently, in addition to all of her continued activities: taking on a leadership role within her Service Beakers club, becoming an Admissions Ambassador at Gibbons (giving tours, answering parent questions, hosting shadow students, and more), doing a few extra things at piano (participated in a video about practicing and is doing the ensemble festival in January), and...DRIVING! She has completed more than 60 hours of driving, including 10 hours of night driving, and has done a really good job. Driving is complicated, and she has learned how to manage all of the parts of it at one time.
She has a good group of friends, both the "monthly hangout crew", and also some girls that she's met at Gibbons. Her friends love that she is always so supportive and kind. She has been to four football games this year and enjoyed hanging out with her friends there. She also had a blast at the Homecoming dance! College is on her radar, and she's taken it upon herself to attend college rep visits at school and suggested our day of seeing several campuses back in September. She is excellent at communicating with teachers and managing her schedule, things like: scheduling make-up quizzes, attending office hours, coordinating projects, etc. Teachers love her and compliment her on her participation in class. Her classes have gotten a lot harder this year; she's taking 4 honors classes compared to 2 last year (chemistry, math, Spanish, and dance) and is doing wonderfully in them. I could go on and on, but basically, we are so very proud of her and the amazing daughter, student, sister, and friend that she is. She never gives up when things are hard. Her teenage life is busy and complicated these days, but she is handing it so well. We love Erin!
