Thursday, April 24, 2008

What a Girl Wants

My sweet "baby girl" turned 16 yesterday! It was a special day and a special week for many reasons... not only is she growing into an amazing young woman of God who loves people, cares about integrity, and works very hard at everything she does, but it was also an important day because it was a lightbulb moment for me personally. Emily woke me up at 5:45 a.m. fully dressed, make up and hair done, and asked if she could go out to breakfast with her girlfriends from school! What... who am I... remember me? The woman who gave birth to you...right? The woman who hands you money at every turn, drives you all over southern california at your heart's desire, and comes to every event, every concert, every play, musical, etc. to cheer you on... How did I all of a sudden become "chopped liver?" Emily left for the day to go out to breakfast with her friends, go to school, and then go to Grease rehearsal right after school.... so I didn't see her the whole day until about 9:30 p.m. Very strange birthday. (for me!) She had a fun day with her friends, and I had to come to the cold realization that she is pulling away, that her friends are way more important to her than her family/ parents!
One of the most revealing moments of this wonderful occassion was her birthday list. It gives a humorous, yet enlightening glimpse into the mind, heart, and priorities of a 16 year old girl. It borders on childhood and womanhood at the same time. Here's a little peek:

*Classic Ipod
*Acrylic Nails
*Highlights (for her hair)
*Berret (you know, the hat kind)
*Sun Dresses
*Earrings (big)
*Silver Stiletos
*Hollister jacket
*Lap top (computer)
*purses in general
*mica bella powder
*vans tennis shoes
*new phone/ iphone
*prom dress
*belly button ring
Doesn't that last one just totally crack you up... and take you by surprise!? I love it!

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Easter Fun with the Family

Finally figured some things out on my camera... my problem is I am very forgetful, so I have to keep learning the same thing over and over again. Anyway, here are some family Easter pictures. I think there were 35 of us at my sister Dyan's house in Thousand Oaks. So many kids that we had to have TWO Egg Hunts... one for the Little Kids (here's Ellie, Josh, and Grace) .....

And one for the BIG kids (from left to right, staring into the bright sun, are Sammy, Maddie, Jakob, Luis, and Giovani.)
A few more sweet pictures of our "babies" ( I love this picture of Josh with his bag on his head... that was the only one where he was looking into the camera "sort of".... tee hee! )





















We also celebrated SEVEN family birthdays while we were all together... here are the "big people"... nephew Giovani, Dawn (who was my flower girl in my wedding in 1986 and now she's 22!!) my sister in law Carolyn, her little boy Josh (the big THREE!), Audrey, my nephew's wife, her little boy Derrik, and.............


Little Katie... my niece Nicole's baby girl, who turned ONE!
Wow, what a wondeful DAY we all had together!