13!

Being in town for the holidays this year meant that we were home for her birthday, so we decided to have her party that night. Since it's her 13th birthday, we went with a bang and had a sleepover. It was the biggest one we've had yet. Before I get to that, let's start at the beginning of the day.

Karissa likes to sleep in, so she slept in til about 9, not too bad when you consider how long I used to sleep in when I was a teenager... We had waffles for breakfast. Karissa chose to have a chocolate chip one, which is what she usually likes and doesn't put syrup on. If we have whipped cream, she adds that, but unfortunately, she and Victoria blew through it with all the other fun nights, so no whipped cream that morning. After breakfast we made sure to do our family scripture study because we were on track to finish the Book of Mormon by the new year, which we did, so we couldn't afford to miss that evening with the party going on. (Now we're ready to study it with the guide this year which will be so great!) She opened her family presents in the morning which is an option when no one goes to work or school on your birthday. She loved all her gifts sent by family members from afar- thank you!

 We had to do some cleaning up to get ready for the party so we had room for all 7 guests to sleep in the basement. Austin and Erik did a good job with their part. Karissa had made her cake the day before, including fondant memes that she and her friends like. She spent hours doing it. I'm so glad she did it then so she didn't have to do it her birthday morning like she had originally planned because before we knew it, it was time to go to lunch at Subway, where she requested. Little did she know that I had planned a little surprise meet-up there with two of her favorite people, so we had to be there by noon.

Sorry if you don't get the memes on the cake, but if you do, more power to you! There's about 5 of them, that's why they're so random!

Back story: about 7 years ago, her Primary teacher was Stefanie Nelson. Stef always gave great lessons and fun treats and quotes to go with them. She is also very loving and huggable, something Karissa really likes. They've maintained a relationship ever since. Stef and her husband Aaron give Karissa Christmas and birthday gifts every year. Every once in a while they take her out to lunch. They've hosted some parties for the other girls from church who are Karissa's age. They have three grown boys, though they aren't much older than Jason and I, so it's as much fun for them as for her. Karissa lovingly calls them Sis Nel and Bro Nel.

SisNel texted me a few days before her birthday with a question about her gift. I told her about our plans to have lunch at Subway and invited them, with the idea that it should be a surprise. So, as we were eating lunch, in walk SisNel and BroNel with a big birthday bag. She was so surprised! It was so fun and we had an enjoyable visit with them.

Next, we had to use up our free roller skating passes that expired on her birthday. Even Jason got to come, which I realized that he had never been to the Skatin' Station in all the time we've been here! It's something that I've just done with the kids as a way to get their energy out and use up the passes we get from school. It was fun having him there with us. My friend Rosie and her family met us there. We all enjoyed the music, the action, and the announcement of her birthday over the mic.
We were going to leave right after the races, which Austin wanted to participate in. He's a great skater and was the youngest in his group, so didn't win, but he will soon because he's so fast! On his way off the rink so we could get ready to go, he fell and landed wrong. Well, three hours later, and as the party was underway, he came home from the urgent care where his radius on his left arm was declared fractured. Same bone, other hand, same break- buckle fracture.

He was in a lot of pain. The boys and I snuck away to work on our Monopoly game during part of the party.

Karissa wanted won ton soup and shrimp for dinner at her party. So I made my very easy version, including chopped cabbage, carrots, and green onions. It was surprisingly popular. The sticky rice I made, which my own kids don't usually like, was very popular too. I don't usually make Chinese for big groups, so I wasn't sure how it would go over. Even her friend Thai, who is Chinese, thought it was really good. She had invited him to stay til 10, even though he was the only boy invited. I hadn't
really gotten to know him before, but I'm so glad he came. He's a very sweet kid and was one of the more calm party attendees.

Karissa worked hard to set up all the shrimp.

One of her Olivia friends, she had 3 best friends named Olivia, made her this cute poster with some of the sayings that Karissa made up. 

 They all danced, joked, listened to music, played a couple group games, and had a Mario Kart tournament. When Thai left, the girls did makeup and watched movies. I know they stayed up way too late, but I was impressed that they popped popcorn and cleaned it up afterwards and had all their things out of the basement and ready to go on time. I made chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast (another of Karissa's favorites) with oranges and orange juice. As they all were leaving, I was on the phone with many different offices to get Austin's appointment finalized for his cast on Monday. When her friends left, Karissa cleaned everything up, put it all back where it belonged, and then took a nap!

I have to say that Karissa is becoming a very helpful person around the house. She loves to bake cakes and cookies, help with cooking other meals, and being helpful with other random assignments. She has found a love in playing the piano that hadn't blossomed until this year. She really enjoys playing the viola in the orchestra too and has been doing better at getting there on time each morning. She loves her choir class at school and even sang with the ward choir for Christmas. She has great facial expressions when singing. She's really good with our cats, and Luke, in particular, can't get enough of her. When it's cheer season, she's totally invested in that. She enjoys reading, but her real passion is in art. She's always bringing around her sketch book and working on her comic whenever she can. She enjoys painting as well. All she wanted for Christmas were art supplies. She has a very creative mind! Happy Birthday Karissa!!

The comic she's working on about the 8 elements. She's done about 20 pages like this.