Sweet 16!

Don't ask me how ... but our little Emmy Lou Who turned 16 last week!  WHAT IS HAPPENING??  She's now 16, that's what's happening.  CRAZY.

She was excited to get a gym membeship

And some airpods

      She was none too happy about having to go to school on her birthday.  Though most kids go to school on their birthdays, she happens to be the only one in our family who has to go school on their birthday.  So she was feeling a little jipped you could say.  So I tried to make going to school on her birthday as fun as it could be.  

       I sent cookies with Tyler to pass out at early morning seminary - hopefully it was a fun way to get her a little birthday attention.  I also did a treasure hunt throughout her day at school.  One of our birthday traditions is that you always get a treasure hunt to find your presents.  So I thought a treasure hunt at school would be fun.  Tricky, but fun.  I grilled Tyler and Bailey on where we could hide clues throughout the school - it needed to be somewhere that they could hide them easily, Emmy could find them, but no one else would find them either.  We got it all planned out - and put it in motion.  I gave her a clue at home before she left for seminary that told her she needed to look in the church fridge.  She was so confused about the clue being at the church!  But off she went to seminary and found the clue.  That clue led her to Bailey's locker, where Bay had hidden a clue.  That clue was tricky and she couldn't figure out where to look.  She told me that her friends and her were all trying to solve it, for quite a while.  I even saw a video she'd taken of them trying to figure it out.  Finally someone figured it out and they were back on track.  That clue led her to look under a chair in a classroom.  I knew she had a National Honors Society meeting at lunch that day so I told Tyler to go in before lunch and hide the clue under a chair.  He called me at break, "Mom!  Problems!"  What?  "There's a class in the room I need to get into!".  Ok, how long until that class is out ?  "10 minutes".  Ok - wait 10 minutes then go in and hide it.  Ten minutes later, another phone call .... "Mom!  We have to abort."  Why?  "Emily's in there right now for her next class!".  Ok, go in anyways and hide it.  If she sees you, she sees you.  But better to have her see you than to call off the whole thing right now.  So Tyler went in, right in front of Emmy's eyes and hides it.  But she didn't see him!  Huh?  I don't know how, but she didn't see him hide it.  So she waited until her lunch meeting and then started looking under chairs.  She found that clue and it led her to the girls bathroom where Bailey had hidden a clue under a sink.  Emily couldn't find that one, and when I picked her up after school she told me she couldn't find it. So she and Bailey went back into the school to find the last clue.  They found it and ran back to the car to continue the hunt at home.  At this point in the hunt Tyler had taken over and had hidden clues all over the neighborhood!  Emily really worked for this treasure!  It was such a fun day!  Even if she did have to spend it at school.

   We ended the day by going out to pizza (her ultimate favorite) and then home for dessert.  My parents joined us for both.  It was a great day celebrating our favorite 16 year old!