Happy Birthday, special girl...

Our first born, Sabrina Nicole...turned 14 on July 18th. She was lucky enough to not have dad here for her actual birthday, so she successfully stretched the celebration over 5 days! We started the weekend with a beach party with her friends. They had a great time splashing about, eating hot dogs and monster cupcakes, exploring their creative sides with frosting (Sorry, David!)

These were the ridiculously difficult cupcakes she requested out of the super cute, self-proclaimed EASY cupcake cookbook. Yeah...they LIE! Grrrrrrr....2 days of work later, they did turn out cute.

Sunday, I asked her what she wanted for her birthday breakfast. She came up with crepes...hmmmm, haven't done that in a while. I'd forgotten how super easy and mega yummy they were! What a pretty display...

Monday was her actual birthday, so I dropped off Hayden and McKenna at friend's, then took her out for a surprise pedicure. She really wasn't excited, but in the end, loved the experience.

Dad finally came home on Tuesday, so we went to dinner, her choice, burgers at Island's. Yum, again!

Year 13 was rough, I ain't gonna lie! We moved away from Germany, the only home she remembered; there were major diabetes issues we've worked hard to overcome; add in siblings and hormones...and I'm surprised we're all still alive. But, I think we've come out ahead, and it's only uphill from here. She has really embraced this new adventure, loving the sunshine and water play.

She's taking advantage of opportunities to hang out with friends. She makes friends easily, we all knew she would!

She's even started improving relations with Hayden....awwwww...aren't they cute together?

Some more things we love about her... She loves to sing karaoke.

She's creative, fun and quirky-- slipper socks, and all.

And, I never tire of downloading the cameras and finding gems like this:

High school, 5:50 am seminary, new friends, new routines---changes ahead. Enjoy 14, baby girl....we're along for the ride.