sweet sixteen weekend

two fridays ago, on the fourteenth, 

this little baby girl...

and this little one year old girl...

and this little two year old girl...

and this little four year old girl...

and this little five year old girl...

turned into a big sixteen year old girl!

really?

yes really.

i know.

i can't believe it either.

but it happened.

because fridays are so crazy around this place, and no one in the family, including the birthday girl herself, would be able to attend our traditional birthday family dinner, she opted for a saturday morning french toast kind of party with everyone in attendance.

(it's not fair that she is so cute, even in the morning without getting ready.)

most of her presents started with the words "justin bieber", as in: justin bieber perfume (it actually smells surprisingly lovely), justin bieber posters - which we will post later after we've found room on her walls for them, and maybe her favorite present of the day...

 a justin bieber tshirt!

in case it's not already clear, allie is a huge j.b. fan. HUGE.
and while sixteen may not be the average age of a girl with bieber fever (more like 12), that doesn't bother her in the slightest. she's loved him from the beginning and doesn't care that it isn't a super popular way to be in high school. i love this about her, she is not a fair weather fan. everyone knows of her love for j.b., even ethan knew a card with justin bieber on it would be a hit, all without any help or prompting from me.

 (justin on the front wearing purple, his trade mark color, and allie in yellow with pink hair. 

i can translate ethan writing, it says: justin loves you allie. i love you too. ethan)

needless to say, i think this card was her second favorite present!

later on saturday her big birthday plans were to go get a pedicure with her BFF, lauren, but when we went to pick her up, there was something in the backyard that lauren was dying to show her....

SURPRISE!

lauren, with a little help from her cute parents, threw a fantastic sweet sixteen party for allie that she never saw coming! it's possible i'll go straight to hell for all the lies i had to tell her over the last few weeks and especially on saturday, but they worked because she never had a clue about any of the preparations and was genuinely surprised to see so many friends in lauren's back yard. it was awesome.

the girls ate and played games and roasted smores by the fire pit, ate cupcakes, laughed their heads off and then snuggled up in blankets to watch a movie outside in the backyard. allie was so touched, she's pretty much been smiling for the the last two weeks over it.


it was a great thing for her to feel so loved and so special on her big day! 


my thoughts on having a sixteen year daughter are complicated. i admire her strength and her love of others and her strong testimony of our Savior's love. i worry about falling short on being the mother she needs - its often hard to balance when to push and when to step back and let her figure it out. some times i feel like i can't keep up with the hormones and drama of being sixteen! but more often than that i feel so proud of all the good things that she's choosing for herself and excited for her future that looks so bright. 


love. this. girl.

happy happy birthday allie !

 sixteen is going to rock.

(p.s. allie, i did this whole post in purple in honor of your beloved j.b.)

blink

this happens every year.

one day we are celebrating the last weeks of school with a million spring-time activities...

choir concerts

spencer sang a solo

 (no pic of allie singing?)

dance recital - beautiful dance, terrible pic

pre-school field trip

and graduation

jr.high graduation

 and lots of great lacrosse

 (this next one is of of him shooting an actual goal even though it's hard to tell)

not to mention, the musicals, which i already documented, final projects, AP and other end of year tests, and even, a new job. 

spring is busy, and by the last day of school, we are all jumping for joy.

literally.

because by then, we most definitely need the break.

and then,

(this is the part that happens every year...)

i blink too quickly.

and the next thing i know,

i'm making breakfast,

packing lunches

and taking first day of school photos.

and even though, it's going to be a BIG, awesome, exciting year for each one of the kids, 

i just can't believe that

 summer is over.

 wow.

five for friday, again

five for friday seems to be a good fit for me right now since everything during the summer feels so miscellaneous and random. and it helps me document the little things, which is really what i want to get down on "paper" any way.  here goes....

1. allie and james (her cousin) have always had a great friendship, they seem to be a perfect balance for each other. maybe because they seem to bring out the super silly in each other - i love watching them interact at family gatherings, they make me giggle and wonder what they will be like as adults. i was surprised by these funny photos that appeared on my camera this week.

2. we have a few extra littles at our house this weekend while their mom and dad are out of town. i love it when ethan has other people in the house that aren't adults or teenagers to hang out with. they always have so much fun. what is better than coloring books, sprinklers, trampoline time, legos, polly pockets and pancakes for dinner? 

3. this little family snapshot (thanks lisa), makes me smile because i love seeing my kids so grown up. 

this little family snapshot makes me feel surprised because i can't believe my kids are so grown up. 

this little family snapshot makes my heart hurt a little because my kids are so grown up! 

this little family snapshot makes me feel...SHORT. good grief. it doesn't help that i'm the only one who took her shoes off. i'm telling you, hold onto your little ones ladies, it happens way too fast.

4. real men wear aprons. i LOVE seeing these boys in aprons. especially TIES and aprons. 

i don't know why but it makes my heart swell with pride. :) maybe because there's something so handsome about a man who's not afraid to be a little domestic. 

5. i planted a small garden this year. i wasn't sure what i could grow so i only put in a few things, but i've learned a ton. like, don't buy cheap tomato cages because they fall down and/or fall apart, plant tomatoes far away from each other so they don't start looking like one giant plant, label everything (at least one plant is going to be a surprise when it finally produces something) and....one squash plant is pleeeenty. 

it's been super fun "harvesting" squash because every day there's a new basket of it, but really, we can only eat it so many ways. i am super super excited to have a handful of ripe tomatoes! squash anyone?

in orlando...

 spencer showed great bravery by riding on all four plane rides even though it made him a little nervous.
you know, come to think of it, i am not a very good flyer either, and i was brave too. :)

i only wore my hair down for about ten minutes on the first day - then in a messy bun for the other six and three/fourths. even a pony tail was unacceptable because hair was still touching my too-hot neck.

we saw penguins (my favorite) and dolphins and whales.

tasted all kinds of coke from around the world, it was pretty gross.

rich channeled john lasseter.

spencer had the gall to tell me that the rockin' roller coaster was "just ok, mostly it was just turns". what the? it's one of my favorite rides of all time.

then i saw the photo and laughed at him because it seemed to me like he was having a good time.

woody gave ethan his hat as a reward for being brave enough to give him a hug. (he must have known that ethan was nervous.) that moment made the whole trip worth it.

taylor's long thick hair reacted so awesomely to the amount of humidity in the air, that it provided daily entertainment for us all. this photo doesn't even do justice to the sweet fro that it was.

allie purchased the ultimate pin and lanyard collection she's always wanted - with her own hard-earned cash.

we ate really bland, over-priced food at the famous planet hollywood. (we're smiling because we didn't know how bland and over-prized it would be yet.)

ethan was psyched to be just tall enough for most of the rides we rode.

the kids, little guy included, salivated over this sweet ride at epcot...

 we fed the dolphins and pet the sting rays.

we saw all the important people and took photos with most of them.

even in orlando, the teenagers managed to make time for texting. usually while waiting in the long lines or riding shuttles in between parks.

taylor channeled his inner viking.

 his fellow SBOs would be so proud.

all the people in our family INCLUDING rich, rode this ride. the photo was terrible or i would've purchased it as proof for rich doubters.

spencer managed to sneak into several photos without me noticing until reviewing them later. these two are my favorites.

we walked at least 100 miles over the seven days - seriously, and i had about sixteen blisters on my poor feet to prove it, i'll spare you the photos. with the heat and humidity, we were all pretty wasted at the end of each day - ok half way through each day.

 hot and miserable, but i still managed to get them to smile for me. ya, i got skills.

  we all loved chilling at typhoon lagoon in the water for one whole day to beat the heat.

there was one more part of orlando that we all loved, but it deserves it's own short post. so you'll just have to wait. but here's a little clue...