Teenager...Yikes!

So we finally made it...the teenage years are here! I have already had glimpses of the rolling of the eyes, the life's not fair attitude and all the comes with it! It is going to be great! I can tell. I am grateful for Greg and his relationship with Ash because she and I clash a bit...I don't like to admit that but it is true. All she wanted for her birthday was a cellphone. Of course she is the only 7th grader at school that does not have one. ( I do know of plenty others myself) I wanted her to get a phone. She is at the dance studio over 13 hours a week and I wanted to have that contact with her. Dad was not so convinced. We have been warned of the bad that comes with a phone. Isn't that true with anything - there is bad that comes with the good? I will say it came down to the day before when we finally made our decision.

So, her only clue was that her gift started with a "C" and was about 2x4 inches. That matched a phone size and she was convinced!. I kept telling her no - so she settled on the idea that it was a camera. Good guess, but wrong! I had gotten Carrie Underwood tickets! I was excited. The plan was to take the whole family. I do parties every other year and this year it was a family party year.

She requested a scavenger hunt on the morning of her birthday to find her gifts. So we all got up early, Greg was on one of his 22 miler runs and she was bummed to have to wait for him to get back. He got home and she started hunting! It was fun. The whole family got involved - I think that is going to turn into the tradition, so I am going to have to get more creative...We had 5 clues with the last clue leading to the big present. I had really convinced her that she was not getting a phone, so when she opened it - She was in shock that we had got the phone! We spent a lot of time at the phone store to learn all we needed to know to keep her safe and have it be a good thing. We found one that we felt comfortable with and can be monitored on the computer at home! I hope that we are not sorry! She realizes our concerns and she is a good girl! We trust her and I am thinking only positive!

So...Happy birthday Ash! - needless to say, the concert took a major 2nd place to the phone!