Sweet 16

Im not sure how I feel about this, but I am now officially the Mother of a 16 year old! Its making me feel old, even though I had her young. In my mind she should probably only be like 10. But theres no going back now. We just have to embrace it and cherish these next few of years that she is still living under our roof. Man, now Im going to tear up. I dont like to think about my birdies leaving the nest. Its just too sad and too soon. Then I think...if she got married when I did, she would only have 2 years and 8 months to go. Sorry Dad, I totally get it now. Good thing it all turned out alright so I can celebrate times like this 5 times over.

But enough about me...lets talk about Madi's big day.

The 3 youngest came home from school and created this driveway chalk masterpiece for Madi to come home to. Awww...

I also had 16 flowers and a candy bar waiting for her. 

Since her actual birthday was on a weeknight and we had school and soccer stuff to do, we just opened a few family gifts before bed. 

Katelin got Madi a necklace she had been admiring. 

Im already feeling sentimental, but I hope all these sisters stay close as they grow up. So sweet.  

Brylee gathered some acorns from school for Madi. :) 

Alissa also picked out a necklace for her. 

Madi has been begging for me to make her a running medals board, so I finally got that done for her birthday. She has medaled about a dozen times already so she wanted a place to display them. (The medals hang from the bottom.) 

This last Friday we threw her an outdoor party. We were worried all week about the weather because it had been cold and rainy. Friday morning it stormed pretty good and was pretty cold and cloudy until about 2:00. Thankfully my prayers were heard and it cleared up and the sun came out just in time for her party. I bought her this sash to wear, but Im pretty sure she hated it so I just made her take one picture with it on.

Ryan grilled up some burgers and hot dogs for dinner.  

We also had a variety of lawn games like volleyball, beanbag toss, ladder ball and bocce. Ryan and Zack had to take on the girls. 

Presents came next. Madi has a really artistically talented friend who painted her her favorite Dr. Suess quote on canvas. She loved it! 

Ryans favorite gift of hers was this "Y" in lights (BYU). He might steal it from her in her sleep.  

She also got a few other things like gift cards, another necklace, earrings, nail polish, oreos, etc. 

Speaking of Oreos, Madi loves them like Katelin loves cookie dough, so she decided to try a cookies and creme ice cream cake this year. It was the first ice cream cake Ive made, and everyone said it tasted awesome. Phew... 

After the sun went down, it started getting pretty cold. I was fine leaving the crazy teenagers outside, but Ryan was nice enough to let them all come in for cake and warm up for a bit. In total I think we had about 20 kids show up. Since it was a pretty important party we just told Madi to invite her whole Cross Country team. She has developed a lot of good relationships through running, so it has been good for her on many levels. Plus, she had some non runner friends come as well. 

When it got dark enough, we played an outdoor movie. I have been wanting to try this ever since we moved in and saw the big space on the back of our house. We bought a projector, and hung a large white tarp from the windows and aside from the train coming by a couple times, it was perfect. The kids all had to huddle up in blankets to stay warm, but I think it was worth it. Besides, the cold kept the mosquitoes away. Im thinking some neighborhood summer movie nights might be in our future.  

Overall, I think the party was a big success. A few boys from track showed up late and ended up staying and talking with Madi until 12:30. We hated to break it up even though we were so tired and ready to call it a night. Im sure Madi loved having the attention, and you only turn 16 once. In the future, Im sure Ryan wont be so nice to the boys...now that dating is allowed. DATING!! Im going to go cry into my pillow now.