Happy Birthday Hootie! Shibuya!

Gabi turned 14 today. I have to keep saying that over and over: Gabi turned 14 today! Several of my Japanese students said they couldn't believe I was old enough to have a 14-year-old! (Yes, flattery will get you everywhere and they're all getting A's! ) We didn't do much, just presents, pizza and cake. Gabi's best friend turned 14 today as well and they've planned a big sleepover and cookout for the weekend at Kelekah's house.

A few years ago I started the tradition of decorating the kids' bathroom mirror the night before each one's birthday so my birthday wishes would be the first thing they saw when they woke up on their b-day. I think I started it with Isiah because Otis and I left for work before he woke up every day but I wanted to wish him a happy birthday before he left for school. The tradition continues, even though the bathroom mirror here is 1/4 the size of the one we had in the States!

On a cute note, we always sing the chorus of 50 Cent's In Da Club "Go shorty, it's your birthday..." replacing the shorty with the b-day person's name. For the longest time Ethan couldn't say "It's your birthday" it would come out "Shi-boo-ya!", so that's what we all started saying: "Go Ethan, shibooya, shibooya!" when we got to Japan we found out there's a section of Tokyo called Shibuya. Weird.