Another adult in the family

Julianne turned 18. We have another adult in the family. For those who are counting, this newest birthday leaves us with the adults squarely in the majority....only two children left. At least as far as the law is concerned. Our family is growing up. My feelings are rather complex on the issue and have lots of emotions wrapped around them...so lets not go there right now. (Mostly because I'm still living in the land of denial and prefer to stay there for at least a few more months until Julianne moves away to college...)

While Julianne was at school I decorated her room...this year with heart streamers that I made. Her birthday being just four days before Valentines Day and it being her favorite holiday because of that, hearts always tend to be the theme of the day, pretty much every year. Deciding that the "giving tree" that we put together for Rebekah's 18th birthday should be tradition, I filled the branches with various gift cards and $ bills and put it on her dresser in the middle of all the decor. And then so that when Julianne came home I could be assured she'd make her way down there, I strung string all around the entry way, living room and kitchen and down the stairs, through the basement family room and then finally down the hall to her bedroom....kind of spider web style. Along the way I clipped pictures of Julianne when she was younger, in a kind of this-is-your-life sort of celebration. She thought it was great, all of it. And then she settled in to do some homework. Because birthday or no, there were still assignments due the next day.

She invited her boyfriend Bryson and her best friend (soon to be college roomie) Elle over to share dessert later that evening. When querying about what kind of cake she wanted, Julianne said she was kind of in the mood for donuts. We joked about the difficulty of fitting 18 candles around a donut, and how lighting them would look like a ring of fire. But miracle of miracles, I actually found a larger than normal sized donut at the bakery! So we lit our ring of fire. And than rather than the birthday song, Bryson and Elle did a huka-style chant and then we played Adam Lambert's cover of The Ring of Fire (originally by Johnny Cash) on youtube. Bryson and Elle had never seen it before...and were impressed by its weird appropriateness. Here, you should watch it for yourself:

(Thanks heavens for Rebekah who sent a video from London with the missionaries in the Hyde Park Chapel Visitor's Centre singing the Happy Birthday song to her sister...because it's the only traditional version she got! I wish I could post it here...but I can't seem to get it off my phone. Hmph.)

(According to the calendar of holidays, February 10th is National Umbrella Day. And Julianne and Bryson do like to celebrate as many of those holidays as possible. So the gifting of a new umbrella was appropriate...)

It was a good day. Julianne seemed pleased with how we said goodbye to her childhood and ushered in her adult years. Because after all, what says adulting more than following string webs, huka chants, rings of fire and umbrellas? I mean really??

Sibling birthday snuggles before bed. We miss Rebekah.