A-Girl Turns 16

Bright and early for her birthday pancakes!  (Oh, by the way....look what I have started on my cabinets!!!)

She also chose me for her birthday meal (Rainman was working, so she would have had to wait...and she isn't really a patient girl)

We went out for burgers at her favorite place down here.  Honestly, she has eaten there for everyone of her birthday meals since we moved!  (They were out of fried green beans though....a yearly tradition...we were both equally bummed.)

From there, we went for eye doctor appointments.

Woo Hoo!  Right?!?!?

See, part of A-girl's Christmas present was that Rainman and I would pay for a contact lens eye exam.  She would be on her own for buying contacts, but we would pay the money for the exam.  We don't have eye insurance, so it can get pretty expensive.

I have been having trouble with my prescription and ever since my girl's trip last year to Minnesota when my sister had me take off my glasses for pictures, I have been mulling over the idea of getting contacts again too....so....off we went.

We left the eye doctor successfully with contacts for A-girl!  She looked so beautiful and so grown up.  I think she looks awesome in glasses too, but I know sometimes you just want to be able to see the world without frames (plus prom was coming up).

We did gifts after Rainman got home from work (and I just realized that A-girl's contacts were bothering her by now, so she had changed back into her glasses for these pictures!)

I didn't have time to make her actual cake on her birthday, plus we were still eating S-girl's birthday pie.  A-girl didn't care, she got a few of the gifts she really wanted....a phone (we make them wait until they're 16 and they have to pay for it themselves) and contacts.  So, she was happy.

They played a crazy amount of loud, raucous games of Jenga! Seriously.  They are loud.

We finally did her cake a few days later.  Usually, I do a Peeps cake for her.  But, this year, I found a 9 pack (like 9 of the 4 per pack) of the different Peep flavors at an after Easter sale for like $5 and decided to show her and see if she would rather just have them to eat without being on the cake.  She thought that was a good idea.  So, this was her boring cake.....

 I promise she really did get contact lenses.  It just took her a few days to get used to wearing them.  I have some great prom pictures coming soon of her without her glasses!

Whew! It Has Been a Long Time....

Luckily, I don't think my blog falls into the "I must read this before I can start my day" kind of blogs for anyone, so, while you may have noticed that it has been a while since I posted, I am pretty sure nobody has been devastated.

It has been a crazy, busy spring and I have been trying to keep my head above water....and really just try to enjoy the moments that I am getting with the kids.  D-man is a senior in high school, so I am starting to have those little epiphanies about that fact that he won't be here next year for all those little things we take for granted.

I honestly have a ton to update you guys on.  Some good stuff.  Some bad stuff.  Some scary stuff.  Some funny stuff.

I will start with some birthday updates:

S-girl turned 9!

Sorry about that picture.  One of my other things that happened is that Rainman and I both upgraded to smart phones!  Gasp!  I  LOVE two things about mine.....I can Facetime with my mom (well and other people, but she is the only one I have so far) and I can take really nice pictures.  The problem was that I didn't know I was taking those "live" picture thingies....which is what happened with S-girls'.  Oh well....

S-girl is at that interesting phase where she is very much little girl, but is getting more and more like a little lady everyday.  She  takes time and plans outfits, including her shoe and accessory choice.

L-girl even straightened her hair for her.

She chose  me for her birthday meal companion. We went to Subway.  Her choice.  Then she asked if we could go to the playground my our house.  See?  Still a little girl.

The funny thing about S-girl is that if you were to line up my kids in front of strangers, everyone would say she is the most shy.  But, get that girl alone and she talks non-stop.  Like, really, non-stop.  It is like she is storing up all her ideas and plans until she gets a captive audience.  LOL

We talked and talked and talked over our sandwiches, while we drove and while we walked back into the house.  She told me about her tree house plans, her desire for a real tea set, what her friends have done and said lately.  Her plans for her sleepover that she was finally getting to have with a friend from church.  Seriously.....non stop..

We went to the playground, but it was spring break, so there were a ton of kids there.  Other people may love that, but.....

We are spoiled homeschoolers.  When we go places during the day, usually there is nobody around....restaurants, grocery stores, libraries and even play grounds.

So, she and I wandered over to the old buildings in the park and took some pictures.

We came home and spent the afternoon with babies, where she got to be my main helper.  Special treat/privilege. (because usually they are all fighting over who gets to feed them lunch, hold them, etc.  Although somehow it is all me when a diaper needs to be changed.....)

We opened presents at night when Rainman got home from work.

I made her a french silk pie for her cake.  It was super yummy, if I do say so myself.

I think S-girl had an awesome birthday this year.