The dreaded braces and a night out.

 Just as teenagers hit that time of insecurity and feeling out of sorts with how they look as they go through various growth spurts, many of them then face that great indignity - orthodontic braces. Anna has now hit that spot and lets just say she wasn't too happy about it. It took a lot of talking through but we tried to persuade her that as it's a phase that just has to be got through she's better to try and accept it and not hide her beautiful smile.
A box of chocolates on the day of fitting also helped!

Why are the descriptions of chocolates always on the bottom?.....

Being Anna she of course shared them with her brothers and sisters and they were pretty happy about that too!

 We also decided a while back that once the children became teenagers we would take them out on their own for a special date after each birthday. This is because as our house is so mad busy and chaotic most of the time it would mean we would be able to give one child our undivided attention and have a conversation without the carry on of the younger ones. With teenagers we feel it's so important to keep the channels of communication open and make sure they feel special and cherished. We also want to talk through their hopes and goals for the coming year to see if we're meeting their needs as best we can. As with all things Anna is our 'guinea pig' trying out our ideas on her as we muddle our way through this parenting journey. We are blessed with such an easy going first child to learn on!
The photo are pretty bad, taken on my phone, but they are lovely memories of a special evening.

All things considered she didn't have too bad a week in the end!