Dear Josh,

Happy teenage birthday! What a joy it is to have you in our family. You are smart, fun, kind and responsible. I love attending every honor roll breakfast and celebrating how hard you work in school. You are self disciplined and rarely need reminding to get homework done or work in upcoming projects.

You love when Dash comes to snuggle you and consider it a special privilege. If he’s on your lap, you won’t move a muscle.

You were so excited to turn 13 so you could finally watch more PG-13 movies. One of your first acts as a teenager was to watch Guardians of the Galaxy with Dad.

You have really improved your tennis this year and love to play. It’s always so fun to watch you. You recently competed in a little tournament over Halloween and you beat everyone!

We still love to have our nightly tickle, and your goal is to make me move from my bed and get up to catch you. My goal is to lure you in so I don’t have to move from my nice cozy bed. You love “your mom” jokes. We were watching the new Lion King and somehow “your mom’s a baby Pumba” went flying around. So now you’ve taken to calling me baby Pumba. We get a good kick out of that.

Your favorite place on earth is curled up on the loft couch with your iPad.

Josh, your family loves you and we can’t wait to see what fun your teenage years will bring. Remember that you are valued, that you always have us in your side, and that we love you just the way you are. Teenage years can bring some hard challenges but I k ow that together we can work through anything life throws our way.

Love,

Mom

For Josh’s birthday this year he opted for cash and gift cards to save up for his Nintendo Switch. He’s almost there!

He had peanut bitter cookies and butter pecan ice cream for his birthday treat. and here’s his annual pic with his birthday twin. They are growing up!

His birthday party the next weekend was so much fun. I picked up him and his buddies right after school and we went to Loveland Laser Tag. We got unlimited laser tag, $10 in arcade games, a ropes course, unlimited laser mazes and a 4D ride. They stayed till close!

Josh chose Texas sheet cake with peanut butter frosting and Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups on top. It was decadent and delicious!