{"id":14612,"date":"2026-06-09T10:19:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T17:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/?p=14612"},"modified":"2026-06-09T10:19:01","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T17:19:01","slug":"low-key-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/09\/low-key-14\/","title":{"rendered":"Low Key 14"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Monday was the actual day, but we celebrated Alyssa’s 14th birthday with Grandma on Sunday, and, true to her character in general, it was low key. She asked only for cash from us, so the sole birthday gift she got to open was from Laurent, a new pair of Nike shoes. She was stoked! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We waited lunch as long as we could, then Paul went and picked up Alyssa’s choice – In-N-Out burgers. I brought a Caesar salad to go with it instead of fries. Good thing the kids all LOVE salad! After lunch we hung out and waited for Laurent to finish her 11am mass and drive over from the Basilica. Ruben has been reading through Genesis with Grandma on his weekends, and got to read Genesis 3 for us. That’s a rough one… He also tried starting on the book of Judith, but the names (Nineveh, Nebuchadnezzar, Assyrians) were tripping him up so he left that one for another time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also grabbed my camera and took a slew of photos, mostly of Paul. Many suffered from motion blur (impatient little hands) but he caught a few good ones! He’s interested in photography so I’ll have to take him out more often and let him do some practice. I was feeling good so I wandered around the back patio getting some photos of Grandma’s Mexican Bird of Paradise and giant Agave cactuses. <\/p>\n\n\n\nngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\n\n\n\n

As I say, low key, but a celebration nonetheless. Can’t believe she’s a rising freshman!<\/p>\n

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Monday was the actual day, but we celebrated Alyssa’s 14th birthday with Grandma on Sunday, and, true to her character in general, it was low key. She asked only for cash from us, so the sole birthday gift she got to open was from Laurent, a new pair of Nike shoes. She was stoked! We […]<\/p>\n

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