Abi, a TEENAGER already??

What? I can't possibly be old enough to be the mother of TWO, not one, but TWO teenagers?  Where have I been? I swear just yesterday Abi was running down the street in Gilbert to play with Megan.  How quickly things change.  She was a sweetheart then and is a total sweetheart now.  She is an absolute joy and so very helpful.  I had a little breakdown as I was loading the pictures from her special day onto the laptop.  We had a malfunction and lost over 300 pictures including her birthday pictures, her video, and many from Christmas Eve at Grandma's, and a few others.  I still am very sad but the pain in the front of my skull has subsided somewhat and I'm dealing better with the tragedy.  I was able to realize, through my pain, that we had a few that I had taken on my phone from earlier that day and I guess we will try to recreate a few of the rest.  Of course there will be no cousins recreated in the pictures, no presents, and no cake, but there is one VERY important part that we will definitely be able to recreate, and Abi has no complaints about that one. :)

UPDATE:  My wonderful friends informed me that most of the time pictures can be recovered from a card.  I took that baby down to my local Inkleys and $42 later, my priceless memories were restored.  YAY for modern technology!

We started the day a little crazy on Saturday.  We had a baptism and four basketball games but after the last game, we raced out of there and grabbed her good friend Hannah.  We went to Pizza Pie Cafe and had a wonderful lunch.  The two girls picked the coziest spot in the whole restaurant.  Russel and I were a little squished on our side but those little girls' skinny butts fit just perfectly.  Here they are with happy tummies.

We then stopped at the mall and picked out the most adorable PJs for them.  Pretty cute twinners I might add.  It was lots of fun and then we rushed them to Hannah's basketball game (game #5 technically).  After Hannah's game, we brought them back here and let them hang out the rest of the night eating goodies and watching movies.

On Sunday, we had 9:00 a.m. church so things were a little crazy trying to get everyone ready.  I had been shopping for a special outfit for her to wear to church so I had it wrapped and ready for her to open that morning.  She looked absolutely beautiful.  After church, we made some birthday muffins for brunch and grandma and grandpa and Brennan came for dinner.  She felt pretty special and loved the gifts she got.  Girls are SO easy......right up my alley.

Russel's family came a little later for cake and ice cream and she had a great time.  

Right as we were getting the cake and ice cream ready, there came a knock at the door.  Abi went to answer it and couldn't believe her eyes.  A special visitor had come to wish her a Happy Birthday.  It was a wonderful day and she just kept telling me how much she loved everything and that she had a perfect day.

 

 

She also has the best friends in the world who brought her gifts and decorated her locker at school.  She's so lucky to be surrounded with such great kids.

One thing I wanted to highlight about Abi this year is a new talent she has been developing.  She really enjoys taking pictures and seems to have quite the knack for it.  She also has the perfect model to practice on.  Here is just a sampling.......plus it's super awesome for me.