Happy 13th Birthday Kayla!

Man. I cannot believe it. I know I say this every year but it's true. Time really does fly. When they are babies, you don't necessarily realize just how little time you get to "have" your kids. 18 yrs is nothing compared to the average life span! And really, they start breaking away from you when they hit middle school at 11 or so yrs old. And naturally, Kayla is still working on that process. Since she is the first born she kind of gets the short end of the stick when it comes to certain freedoms. Which is fine by me! Because while she is breaking away, JR and I have to learn to let go little bits at a time. And boy is that hard sometimes! At the same time, it is fun watching her grow both physically but emotionally and mentally as well. She is officially taller than me by 1 inch! No surprise really but I surely didn't want to admit it at first! She is such a smart girl and is a good kid too. Of course she has the attitude but that is to be expected! Not always excused, but expected for sure! I know I dished out my fair share of 'tude to my parents when I was that age! I love that she is still open with me and willing to share stuff with me. And I will hold on to that for as long as she is comfortable talking to me. I hope that never ends but I do have to be realistic!

We celebrated her birthday with the grandparents on Wed the 11th. My mom is taking cake decorating classes so we had her make the cake. Kayla requested an i-pod cake. And of course Nana did an awesome job!

Darlin and Emma

Grandpa and Grandma (my dad and step-mom)

Nana, Hailey, Kayla, grandpa and Eli and my little brother Chris in the background

Kayla's cook i-pod cake. Nana even put the little ear buds on the side!

Blowing out her candles. She had the plan to have a 1 and a 3 candle for her cake so that I could use the 1 for Hailey's bday and the 3 for Emma's!

On her actual birthday (the 12th) we took her out to dinner. Her request was IHOP and there was no changing her mind! She gave herself away that it was her birthday though because she was wearing a bow from a present around her neck. So they came and sang to her and gave the kids this huge hot fudge sundae. Earlier in the day I picked her up from school and took her out to lunch. Then after dinner we came home and she opened her presents. Between her grandparents and us she ended up with $85! Of course she spent it all today when we went shopping.

Her and her friends always joke that they are nerds since they are in the gifted and talented program. Isn't this shirt fitting for that?!

I gave her the option to either have a birthday party with her friends this weekend or go to the Fall Out Boys concert coming up in April. She chose the concert! And is super excited about it since that is her favorite band.