Happy Birthday, AG

Monday, the tween turns 12, ushering in her last year of tweendom. Despite dire warnings and anecdotes by legions of friends and family and "experts" to the contrary, the tween years have been as endearing as the toddler and primary periods. Yes, there are emotional tides, but overall, these years are more about discovery and awakening independence as well as every-night cuddles before bedtime and enlightening conversations driving to and from school.

Thank goodness AG and her friends still consider birthday parties a totally cool thing to do. She scripted her 12th event carefully: dinner at El Azteca in Dunwoody Village, the walk to Bruster's afterward substituted for a drive to Carvel due to the rain, lots of screaming and dancing in the rec room, up past midnight, and homemade waffles and fresh fruit for breakfast. Guys were present for the front end; several of the girls stayed afterward for a sleepover. The cast included many new friends from PCMS as our girl expands her social horizons.

Wonderful kids. So thoughtful and well mannered with me and so completely unhinged with each other. I heard them dancing to Thriller and strumming with Guitar Hero; when I did one of my frequent walk-throughs, they barely noticed me as they continued board games and chatting ad infinitum. Yes, the rec room is completely wrecked. Yes, they're all hoarse from the screaming. Yes, we're all very, very, very sleepy this morning.

Well worth it.

Bibimbop

The Dunwoody Nature Center staff hosted lunch at the Wasabi House in the Village today, to celebrate a couple of birthdays, thank several volunteers for over-the-top service during the recent office renovations and program brochure, and sundry other blessings.

Mmmmmm. Bibimbop. It's my favorite dish at Wasabi, a one-bowl Korean lunch of hot rice topped with stir-fried vegetables, bean sprouts, fresh greens, and an egg on top. I usually add some shrimp to the mix. Topped with a mild chile sauce and stirred together, and it's comfort food at its tastiest. Dunwoody is filled with special little places like Wasabi House and Wright Gourmet and Goldberg's and Villa Capri and El Azteca. The chain places are largely confined to the Perimeter Mall area, close enough for convenience, but not so intrusive as to take away the townie feeling of the Village and environs.

This was a busy day, participating in a Dunwoody Schools Cluster Council meeting at the high school, dining with the splendid company of coworkers and compatriots, and finalizing plans for cool classes. The Chicken Whisperer - who turns out to the son of one of our past Board Presidents - has a Saturday class that's filling before we've had a chance to promote it. The Square Foot Garden classes are so popular (and full) that we need to schedule another round in May. We've put together a Sustainable Pantry class as well, for those like me who are still novices when it comes to finding, storing, and serving fresh, locally grown, organic foods.

It's fun to live and work your ideals. I'm blessed to be part of Dunwoody Nature Center and this town-in-the-making.

OMG - It's a tornado, Dorothy!

AG's birthday party was a sleepover. Last night, eight tweens gathered for dinner out at El Azteca, a Lindsay Lohan movie in the family room, more sugar than their bodies knew how to process, and sleeping bags in the basement. They finally fell asleep after midnight.

Meanwhile . . .

A tornado hit downtown Atlanta. Really bad damage. Lightning, thunder, and hail kept things roiling here in Dunwoody, just a scant 25 minutes away. Every time the girls would settle down, the thunder would boom. I stayed up all night because one storm trailed after another from Alabama. This morning, yet another one hit just after 5:00 am.

Now things are momentarily calm. AG's softball game has been cancelled at Murphy Candler and the Little League opening day has been postponed until tomorrow afternoon. More storms are expected this afternoon.

The big 11 has been a success. Dance Dance Revolution for the Wii was the big gift from us - the girls broke it in last night. They also decorated the basement with streamers and glow-in-the-dark bracelets, drank a ton of Propel and bottled water, munched about six bags of popcorn, screamed happily at every lightning flash, chatted about all things tween, and generally enjoyed being girls.

Now they're enjoying strawberries and cinnamon toast strips while watching VH1.

Bliss.

I'm still in my jammies and am thinking longingly about catching a nap later this morning. Or not. We'll see how bad the storms are. But with games cancelled and nothing else on the calendar, we can all sit back and enjoy being at home.

Yes, knitting will be involved. I could make some serious progress on Mukluk #2.