
(terrible photo, my apologies. little people adjusting settings on my camera. This was the sweetest Harry Potter themed gift basket from some little friends. It had some licorice wands, pumpkin pasties and a raven feather writing quill among other little goodies.)

(The oldest brother bought her a locket... a cooler, trendier locket than that of her younger years.)

Harrison sang her a happy birthday. His rendition, though not word for word accurate, was full of strong emotion and sung with gusto.


(relighting candles never get old.)

(Simon's birthday serenade)
It's not everyday a young girl turns 13... sorry, couldn't help myself. What a week. Without inundating my readers in an ocean of drama, I'll just say some ugliness is testing my sweet children. I tell you, I am SO wildly proud of them. They are truly tough, sweet people. They're not perfect. There are fights and mean words and laziness and sneakery. They're CHILDREN, not saints. But, having said that, they're awesome. They're caring and responsible and able to roll with the punches. Even in my current awesomeness ;), I was never this stable or resilient of heart at their age.
Chloe celebrated her 13th this weekend. She attended a Harry Potter movie night (4pm-9am: all the movies!) at a local theater. I think she learned a thing or two about real friendship as well. It's funny, when you homeschool, you miss out on a lot of those ugly but necessary lessons about people. I didn't want my kids to miss out on life lessons like that, but I wanted them to get these lessons when they were older- in a better place emotionally than say, kindergarten.