Sweet 16 and Beyond

Well, Thursday was Lana's Sweet 16 birthday and I let it pass without a new post:).  I figure since I did an earlier blog about all their birthdays I'd be ok;).  It didn't go unnoticed though.  I was up at 5 am that morning getting things ready for her big day, made cinnamon raisen bread which then translated to cinnamon raisen french toast which was her birthday breakfast request.  After the gym it was off to the jewelers to approve a last minute adjustment to her big present and then running errands the rest of the day.  It was insane.....BUT overall, it was a good day.  I think she enjoyed her day.  After school there were chocolate butterscotch cupcakes, balloons and presents...:) She opened her big gift first and not much reaction right away but loved it overall.  I designed a ring for her, yes it was a heart shaped ring with one solid side and one open side, with the solid side encrusted in diamonds from my grandmother's ring and 1 tiny pink birthstone at the corner to offset in color.  It was beautiful.  It is a legacy that each one of my children will get on their 16th birthday, same symbolism and similar but distinct to each child.  The heart had obvious double meaning this year since she had her heart transplant but the second part meaning was that my children, if anyone knows me well already knows this, are my heart and the heart of my family.  I would not be the person I am without any of them! She also got her highlights touched up and a big steak dinner. 

This was also Homecoming week so the girls dressed up most everyday in some sordid crazy outfit and were so cute doing it.  Friday night was the big game and hilariously, The Tigers beat their opponent SO badly that they had to call the game before time ran out.  Saturday we met up with some friends and went to the Cave Springs Pumpkin Patch, which is smaller than our normal Missouri patch we are hoping to go to next weekend, but it was SOOO fun still.  Poor Noah and Izzy are fighting the whole ragweed deal here so sweet Noah was NOT with it at all with his meds...Izzy is used to it now so she was full blown and ready to go:).  We left there, put everyone down for naps and then headed for pics in the square with the girls for homecoming.  ALL I HAVE TO SAY IS GORGEOUS!!!! They were all so beautiful!  Shelby's friends, Shelby and Tori, were there and Lana's friends, Janell and Kailyn and some others showed up and they were all absolutely equisite looking.  My girls have grown up and I realized how old I looked in the pics with them;).  We finished taking pics and Lana headed off to dinner with her friends and Shelby headed off to her BFF's house for dinner, Madison.  Where they had a yummy steak dinner with a not so fabulous desert thanks to yours truly (tried to make a brownie topped with chocolate chip cookie cake that did not work out so well....These girls never complained, just had a fabulous time and ended up having the best night.  So proud of all the girls and can't wait to see them all again next weekend for a fun weekend at the big pumpkin patch with cool weather and lots of stuff to do;)......

Have I told you how MUCH I love fall????