Fourteen

I should be in utter shock that I have a 14 year old, but somehow I'm not. And while I'm keenly aware of the short 4 years I have left with her in my home, she views it as a long, tortuous 4 years that she is going to have to endure. Yes, this lovely young woman was sent here to help me learn the song of persuasion -- and the second verse to "Long Suffering." [See Elder Andersen's talk] No, you can't see a bit of that in these beautiful photos, and for that I'm grateful. She has an amazingly sweet spirit that just shines through.

She really wanted a birthday party this year. She started planning it months ago, so I was fine with her doing all the work. She made her own invitations, designed and printed out her own "happy birthday" bunting, everything! She wanted pizza for the party (but made me choose most of what we ordered), and she settled on cheesecake for her cake.

We started off playing "The Name Game" outside on the carport. She'd had grand visions of getting the yard just perfect so we could have her party outside. The snowstorm we got this week kind of put a damper in us doing much yardwork, but it was nice enough on Saturday to enjoy some time outside. After two rounds of the game we went inside for pizza.

The guest list changed almost daily -- no fault of Chloe's. In the end her friend, Emily, from our neighborhood came and lots of family (Jason brought Elsie and Archer, Grandma & Grandpa ended up being able to come down, and Lark).

She got a lot of fun gifts from everyone. She meant to put "please no gifts" on the invitations, but forgot so she just told people but they didn't listen. That's OK, she enjoyed being spoiled is grateful to be so blessed.

We played the game "Telestrations" at our friends house on New Years Eve and enjoyed it so much that she added it to her wishlist. G&G Nicholls got it for her, so that changed the party plans. We had to play it -- immediately. And it was just as much fun as the first time we played it.

Then it was time for cheesecake! It took her two breaths to blow out all those candles. Maybe she can still have her wish?

She got a kite as a gift, and the windy day was perfect to take it out to try. They made several attempts to get it up out in the field, but we thought it would be a good idea to take it somewhere a bit more open (and no power lines in sight), so they went to the park.

I went and met them at the park after a while because I was supposed to be getting some photos of Archer. That didn't work out as well, but the kite flying was perfect. They had a blast, and Emily was happy to stick around for hours. Everyone else eventually took off, but they spent the whole day with Emily. I'm so glad she was able to make it! At one point they were coming upstairs and I overheard Emily say, "this is the most fun I've had since..." And then she stopped! I told her I wanted to know since when?, to which she thought about it and then said, "well, since last summer." So, I guess the party was a success.

The girls wanted to walk to the library, but I pointed out that it closed in less than half an hour, so I offered to drive them there and then let them walk home. They called me on the way back to see if they could go to Emily's house, which I was fine with. They reported that in YW's today for "good news moment" Emily said "I got to spend 8 hours yesterday with Chloe and Sophie." Do you think she had a good birthday? I do.

And did you hear what she chose for her birthday dinner? I told her we could go out to eat on Saturday night or do something special at home on her actual birthday. She chose to stay home and have salad. Man, I must have done something right!