Noah's Birthday

Noah turned 13 this year.  It was his "off year" for a party so we just spent a night at home with the family.  Noah asked for all Legos for his birthday.  He took a few years off of Lego's and I love that it is back. 

Some wonderful things about Noah

• Noah is killing it in life.  He is thriving in almost every category.  I will list them below.
• He has had a lawn mowing business for the last 2 summers.  He does a great job, I have almost nothing to do with it, he remembers, he does it, it is great.  
• While he doesn't exactly "save" his money, he is pretty kind and responsible with it.  Last year he basically "ate it" (bought candy), but this summer he didn't buy hardly any candy.  The first thing he did was buy everyone in the family Christmas presents (yes... in July) and then bought himself Legos.  He often also buys gifts for friends.
• He loves to take long bike rides, especially to Target to buy his treasures.  He also enjoys riding to a river by our house and watching the water.  He says it makes him feel peaceful.
• He is really good at monitoring his mental health.  He knows when he isn't doing good.  He knows how to get him out of that place.  He knows his triggers, he knows what will help him.
• He discovered audio books.  It was wonderful, if he was listening to an audio book he could do ANYTHING.  Cleaning, hard labor, weeding, exercise.  Anything.  It was his (mine) secret weapon.  But now it is his curse.  He has become obsessed and it is hard for him to live life with out an audio book.  (you can see the headphones on the table, I FORCED him to take them off for the picture).  We are trying to figure out how to manage it.
• He is SO GOOD with the babies.  He is our most trusted.  He is so fun with them, throws a lot of energy at them, cares a lot, and they love him.  He is adorable. 
• He is doing great at school.  His parent teacher conference was amazing.  All his teachers sincerely love him and he is doing all his work.  He is managing it all by himself and doing great.  I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, but we just finished the first quarter and it never did.
• He is always the first one done with this jobs/chores.  And he always does them without me having to ask.
• He never complains about what I make for dinner.