Ryan’s 12th Birthday

Ryan had a pretty hectic birthday!  He had a student council meeting before school, so he got up bright and early to get ready and be there on time.  He took birthday doughnuts to share with the student council.

I mentioned in this post that he gave his 7^th grade officer speech right after lunch.

Toward the end of the school day (after the speeches and voting), I took donuts for his class.  I was hoping that they’d announce the winner of the 7^th grade officer campaign while I was there.  As I was getting ready to leave, the teachers called together all of the candidates to tell them the results.  It was my carpool day, so I decided to just go and read in the car until the school day ended.

One of Ryan’s friends came up the stairs toward me first.  He let me know that another girl had won.  This girl has been one of Ryan’s good friends over the years, and will be great as an officer.  But that doesn’t make the disappointment any easier.  Ryan came out to the car and was very upset.  Once we dropped off the other kids, we talked it through.  He has an interest in trying out for many of the school sports teams next year.  When we met with his junior high counselor and told her he was running, she made a comment about how difficult it is to participate in sports when you have so many after school responsibilities as an officer.  After our discussion, he decided it was ok that he didn’t win.

Ryan’s only birthday request has been a cell phone.  I have gone back and forth about it, to be honest.  But he is involved in so many things, especially during the summer, that I think it will actually be easier for both of us if he has one.  The new Android phone was released today.  No, he didn’t get one.  But representatives were there with balloons and gift bags full of stuff.  We mentioned that we were there to get a phone for his birthday, and they gave him one of the gift bags, too!  You know I love free things!

That evening, we picked up Rara and Papa and went to Ryan’s favorite restaurant – Brick Oven.  We ALL love Brick Oven!  (And…speaking of free…we got his birthday meal free.  Yea!)  Ryan enjoyed the attention of having the cute waitresses sing to him. And that dessert!  Good thing they brought four spoons!

Ryan also decided that he wanted to go to scouts one last time before moving up.  They have a campout this weekend and were going shopping for the trip.  The leaders told Ryan that he could choose all of the food for the campout, since it would be his last one with the group.  How could he resist?

At the end of the day, Ryan reported that even though there was the initial disappointment of losing the election, it ended up to be a great birthday!