the 13th birthday

Well the day finally arrived!  My first born turned 13!  A day that I never thought would arrive so quickly.  I'm still amazed that 13 years could possibly pass that fast!  So for Keara's birthday she wanted her closest friends in the world to stay the night... Cassie, Cami and Kiley.  The 4 of them are very close.  Cassie is Keara's age.  Cami is Cassie's little sister.  Anyway, the girls spent the night the night before Keara's birthday, this way they could be there for her exactly when it turned midnight and be able to wake up with her on her special day.

                                 Keara at midnight!

The girls and I stayed up till 3am talking and sharing old stories.  I LOVE these times with all the girls.  These are times they are going to remember and cherish for a lifetime.  These 4 girls are going to remain friends forever, I just know it.  They have been friends for almost 7 years now.  I can't see this bond fading or stopping anytime soon!  They are all so compatible and truly love each other like sisters.  I love them all like they are my own daughters!  I'm just lucky to have 2 of them all the time! :)

Anyway... This is Keara, her first morning at age 13, a full fledged teenager!!  And what does she do?  Check Facebook!!  lol

The girls finally woke up at 11am and started with the coffee and soda immediately.  (I'd like to say that this NEVER happens!  This is the first time I've let the girls drink coffee!)  This is Cami, being so adult, making herself a cup - HUGE cup of coffee.

The girls really wanted pancakes for breakfast.  On occassion I'll make them something special, like pancakes with Reese's Mini Pieces or chocolate chips.  Keara wanted a Mickey Mouse-inspired pancake.  As you can see... it looks more like a bear! lol

So before we headed out for our little adventure, Kiley finally wanted her La Roux-inspired do.  So Cassie and I took a ton of "hold it! wicked putty styling glue" and lots of "Frozen Stiff" hairspray and put it in Kiley's hair and held a hair dryer up to it forever!!!  And voila!  We now have a little Elly!  (We all LOVE Elly from La Roux!)  So now I have a badass daughter! :)

So my car's battery died and I needed a car that I could fit all the girls in.  So we rented a van (the girls thought that would be cool).

First stop!  WalMart!!  We had to get some window chalk, so we could decorate the car for Keara.  What is a birthday road trip without decorated windows??  :)

Let the decorating begin! 

The 'Birthday Mobile' was decorated and ready to go!  Next stop... Jack in the Box for some hungry girls.

We finally arrive at the mall!  Keara wanted to take her best friends and sister to Build-A-Bear.  So potty break!  I really have no idea why I took this photo in the bathroom, but that's what I do - over document! :)

Keara really didn't have anything on that said "birthday" so I decided to look in Claire's to see if I could find anything.  Normally Keara is way too shy to wear something out of the ordinary, but she was in a great mood!

And here Keara is... all decorated up and ready to start her birthday fun in the mall! 

Animals were purchased and the girls wanted to move on to other stores in the mall.  They always love the escalator!  

More to come later!

smores

So today we made smores.  For weeks we've been planning on it, but today was the day... so we got out all the ingredients and finally made them!

The girls realized that the chocolate was kinda sticky!

Mmm... The chocolate started melting over the marshmallows and the whole house started smelling like smores!!

side of the road

So I had this retarded idea to get pictures of the girls with some "great scenery" in the background.  We live in the country (or near it) so we were driving around old back roads and came upon an old barn and great old fence.  So we jumped out of the car and ran over to the fence!  But... it was cloudy and Dave had used my camera and I hadn't realized it, so the settings were completely different from what I use!  And it was one of those really cloudy days, but yet the sun is screaming behind the clouds, so it's also very bright to their eyes!  I started snapping away and looked at the camera to view what I had shot so far and everything was completely overexposed! :(  But the pictures were so cute, I tried to salvage them the best I could.  The only way I could get them to somewhat turn out is to use this funky little setting I found on Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3, Color Creative - Color CP 2.  So here they are...


                   Keara...

                                  Kiley...

And I truly LOVE how my girls love each other.  I ALWAYS push the "sisters are bestfriends" aspect!  They tell each other everything and do so much together.  They have such a close bond, more so than most siblings.  I love that about them.  P.S. I didn't tell them to pose! lol  Kiley is ALWAYS wanting to kiss Keara.  I have a million shots of that!

I finally got the settings right...  And how beautiful is she?  She can't fake smile!  She just radiates something so special, no matter if she smiles or not.  

The love I have for my girls is unexplainable!

development

So a CostCo coupon came in the mail, a coupon for $1.00 off of their 16"x20" prints.  That got me thinking that I really have no pictures of any humans in the house.  I have 3!  Yes, 3!  One of me pregnant with Keara, standing with Dave.  One of Kiley, sitting all pouting on our front porch from about 4 years ago.  And then One of Keara, resting her head on the balcony of our hotel room in Miami, also about 4 years ago.  So I need to get some printed and put up!!


I finally got Lightroom 3 and have been doing quite a bit of experimentation with it.  I picked 4 of my favorite photos and voila!  My order is ready to go!  Here they are!

my girls at the old peanut factory

I just can't get over how big my girls are getting.

                   Kiley...

Keara is going to be 13 in just 4 days... Being her mom has been so rewarding.  You can just see on her face and in her eyes what a gentle soul she has.  She's so delicate.  She has such a love for animals and anything nature related.  I just love her to pieces!

                   Keara...