Allie is Twenty-One

 Allie turned 21 today!!!! It's a big milestone.   I spent the morning at a gym with Arielle and the kids and running a couple of errands. Stacia slept in. Allie spent an hour observing society for a college assignment.  We met back at home and opened gifts and loved all being home together. 

Allie is a great gift-giver. I laughed when myself, and a couple other Gherkins, mentioned, "We have to up our gift giving game!"  It's hilarious Allie does not SEE herself as a great gift-giver.  It was fun for Michael and I to brainstorm how to bless Allie this year. Stacia has had her gifts ready for months; they were wrapped and ready before she left for Japan. 

She actually was quite surprised, but I didn't get the camera ready in time, so we staged this. ::snort:: 

Stacia remembered Allie loves unwrapping gifts. She wrapped this little gift at least 25 different times....in the end the gift was a pair of kintsugi earrings. She also got Allie a wood carving or burning set - I think a burning set and a carving tool?Also, a game called Anarchy Pancakes. 

All the paper and laughing started Millie barking.

We focused on things Allie will need as she leaves home for Virginia. We knew a tea station in her new apartment is a must.... a tea box. 

We also got her a couple of fun t-shirts. This one is perfect for Allie. LOL 

Keep Talking - I'm diagnosing you

She's a little more prepared to leave home: an Zojiburshi hot pot, a couple boxes of one of her favorite teas, a tea box, game, tools for her hobby, kintsugi earrings, a pottery mug with mtns - to remember the mtns up here, an extra fine mesh tea strainer, a couple of t-shirts (each with messages to remind her of home) and a hair brush...because look at how long her hair is getting. 

This has been a year of tremendous growth for Allie, and we are incredibly proud of her. She realized the career course she was on wasn't "her" and had the courage to make the change to another career path and university which requires a move outside of Alaska. She then put in the hard work to get all the prerequisites out of the way by taking online courses this year while working full time and has been accepted into the Film Production Cohort at the university of her choice. She'll come away with a Bachelor of Arts in Film Production, (with an emphasis on screen writing), having worked on several production projects. She has accomplished all this while we are still reeling from the aftermath of Josiah's murder, trial, victim statements etc. She has kept a balanced life with time for family and friends alongside work and college. She has also continued the very hard work that comes with therapy. This girl is on fire!!! It was fun to celebrate her today!  We love you, Allie. 

Nolan and Alex popped over later in the day. We caught up with each other and happenings around and about us. Alex helped Michael burn a bunch of stuff. Nolan helped us set up tables for tomorrow's Easter Party. I've made the deviled eggs, and salad today. We are well staged for a family celebration. 

Jamin and Jared arrived, and we had a pizza bash followed by games. We'd planned to have peanut butter milk shakes per Allie's request, but we were all too full when it came time to make the shakes. LOL 

Stacia, Jared, Michael, Jamin, Allie & Nolan
Alex was zoning and I took the picture - GG went to bed