Officially a teenager

I now have three teenage boys in the house.  I feel like Eli has been 13 for a long time but his birthday was in April.  I was still recovering from my thyroidectomy so I didn't do my typical birthday photoshoot, which, honestly, I don't think he minded.  I did manage to grab a few photos of him outside showing his cool knife that he made at blacksmithing.  Eli is a cool kid who is super creative.  He loves blacksmithing, loves art (ceramics, sketching), is teaching himself photoshop (he knows more than me), and has a youtube channel for his minecraft hobby.  For Eli's birthday he invited friends over for pizza and junk food and hanging out.  They played the funny seran wrap candy game and were typical 13 year old boys.  The boys were not even in the house for five minutes before they were dog piling and wrestling Eli.  He has a very eclectic group of friends.  When I asked how long he wanted his party to be he said, "Just two hours.  I am not sure I know how to manage all those personalities longer than that."  haha.  It's so true though.  I've written about Eli and his social skills before but I am continually amazed at his ability to read a group and figure out how to manage different social situations and personalities.  I hope he can continue to develop this skill because I think it is a gift that will serve him well always.  He has mostly chilled out from his red-head temper but nothing can make him more angry than a hacker or lag that makes him lose his win-streak.