Emily's Sweet Sixteen

Emily’s sweet 16th birthday was celebrated a little bit belatedly because we did not host her official birthday party until the first weekend in May. On her actually birthday Masamo and I surprised her at school with sixteen balloons and a birthday tiara. Unfortunately Emily was not allowed to carry the balloons around with her all day at school (not that she wanted to) and had to leave them in the school office until the end of the day. In true teenage form she accused me of being mean (jokingly) when I would not take the balloons back home with me immediately so that she would not have to walk out of school with them at the end of the day (and thus bring attention to her). I explained that the entire purpose of the balloons WAS to bring attention to her on her special birthday. It was her sweet sixteen and she should embrace it! Here are some pics from her actual birthday.

Emily decided to have a big birthday party this year and invited 20 girls to her party from both church and school. About 12 of the girls were actually able to make it and I think they had a pretty good time. It was held from 4-10pm on that Saturday. The girls arrived and once enough of them arrived they played a game until it was time to eat. We grilled out hamburgers and hot dogs, per Emily’s request.

The bucket-head brigade entertaining themselves outside

After dinner they had a little down time while Jason and I set up the main even for the evening which was an “Amazing Race-style” game. We had seventeen different challenges set up for the girls to accomplish each with different point values attached to them. The challenges they faced ranged from doing the “Hokey Pokey” for Ella to riding a tricycle to counting a container full of buttons (there were 709 of them by the way). We did not make them eat anything disgusting as Emily didn’t want anyone throwing up at her birthday party. The girls were divided into five teams and had to wear a bandanna of a certain color to identify their team. The game took about an hour or so to complete and it was great fun to watch them run around completing the tasks at hand.

After the game came birthday cupcakes, ice cream and presents. Emily, Jason and I all worked hard on Emily’s chosen cupcakes. We saw the idea in a Family Fun magazine and Emily decided that is what she wanted for her birthday. Here’s the link to the directions if you’re interested… http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/queen-for-a-day-cupcakes-877102/

Let me just say that they were mess and a pain in the rear end to make. We made full sized cupcakes instead of minis like the recipe calls for. The crowns, made out of banana Laffy Taffy were hard to soften enough to cut and we had to tweak the directions slightly to make them easier to make. Here’s a picture of the best looking one, which I also presented to Emily when we sang “Happy Birthday” to her.
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Masamo enjoying a cupcake

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Video of us singing Emily "Happy Birthday"

Emily opening presents

The girls finished up the evening with a bonfire outside. It had been drizzling off and on all day and the rain stopped enough that Jason was able to go out to our fire pit and start a fire for the girls. We had marshmallows available but I think they had a better time taking pictures of one another with my new camera.

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It’s amazing how quickly our children grow. My precious baby girl is nearly an adult and is very close to getting her drivers license. It is hard to let go but I thank God that it comes in stages and not all at one. I have to keep reminding myself that God gave Jason and I a few short precious years to raise our children and that we are preparing them to live wisely once they are adults. I have shed a number of tears recently with many different emotions attached to them as I watch Emily grow into the beautiful young woman God is molding her into. Jason and I pray that she chooses to serve Him wholly and faithfully as He has called her to do.