Avery turned 14 this year. The date coincided with his first day back at school in-person! At fourteen, Avery is still such a sweet, easy-going kid. He’s easy to talk to and cares a lot about people. Responsible, dependable, and disciplined, he is pretty steadfast.

I felt so bad about Avery’s thirteenth birthday – you know, the big one, the “you’re a teenager now” birthday. His party initially got postponed and then it just never happened. Things were so up and down with the virus and during the summer we were on the water and playing outside so much it just flew by. This year we decided to throw another garage party since Silas’ was such a hit. They ate junk food, had an epic ping pong tournament, and talked and talked. The party ended up lasting way longer than we planned, which was great! We could tell everyone was just happy to be together.

A new iPhone!

Cinnamon rolls for breakfast

Enchiladas for dinner, per his request

For his birthday, we threw a party in our garage.

There was a ping pong tournament

Homemade ice cream cake!

Only during Covid do we blow out candles with a leaf blower

Layla kept busy during the party making a card for Avery

Lucas, Avery, Logan, Dalton, Hayden, Dylan & Seldon

It got cold so we heated things up

We have a quaranteenager in the house now! Avery celebrated his thirteenth birthday at the end of March. Shortly after we planned his party and sent out invitations the country started shutting down and it looked increasing likely we might have to postpone. He had planned a “fancy” pizza party at the golf club for a dozen of his nearest and dearest. We waited, held our breath, and prepared Avery for bad news. On March 16 the governor closed all restaurants and bars throughout the state and expanded social gathering limits. Thank you, Jay Inslee, for making the call and getting Mom and Dad off the hook!

Avery is such a trooper. He took it in stride, and if he was disappointed, he didn’t show it. We celebrated his birthday with surprise Easter buns for breakfast. (Currants are very hard to come by these days, but we managed.) Instead of cake he wanted ice cream, and requested to have it at every meal. Our vegetarian health nut got what he asked for.

In the afternoon we had a repeat of Avery’s twelfth birthday and went to the Fisher Creek bike park where we let the kids ride around on bikes. He heard from a number of friends on his birthday which made him feel special.

At thirteen, Avery is sweet, smart, responsible, steadfast, a serious student and a goofy son. He loves his siblings, being outdoors, being active, and is always impressing us with what a genuinely good kid he is. It is so fun being his parents! Happy birthday, Avery Liam. We love you!

Easter buns!

Birthday spanks

Salad for lunch

Riding back home

Watching parkour videos on YouTube

He’s only 1/2″ shorter than me now! (And his voice is dropping!)

Next to the clock at 9:01 AM, the time of  his birth.

Avery’s twelfth birthday means we now have less than a year left without a teenager in the house. If his personality now is any indication of what is to come, I think we are ready to take it on. I am constantly impressed with the young man we are raising. Avery is sweet, sensitive, self-motivated, and hard-working. He is fiercely loyal to his siblings, chooses very nice friends, and is so sweet to his parents. I’m just trying to enjoy every second of it because I know soon his friends will become the priority in his life and before long girls will take precedence over Legos.

At twelve, Avery says he wants to be a firefighter. I honestly thought he was going to say software engineer though, and we also see his dental skills evolving as he continues to remove his brothers’ teeth, which I am incredibly thankful for.

For his birthday Avery wanted to go to the local bike park with a few of his buddies and then have a sleepover. It made my heart so happy to see what a sweet group of friends Avery has decided to surround himself with, many of whom were part of his original crew from our previous days in Snoqualmie.

Happy birthday, Avery Liam. We love you more than you’ll ever know!