Highlights of Being 15

15 started with a great pool party to celebrate your birth!

You started high school in August and celebrated with an over the top fun slumber pool party that your friends are still talking about.

You finally got a new phone and have behaved with it long enough to enjoy it.

You enjoyed school immensely this year, after years of hating school.

You achieved A/B honor roll at a minimum every semester and straight A's a couple of times, earning the academic letter.

You signed up for dual enrollment/advanced diploma for the remainder of high school, because you started having goals. What amazing progress, going from not believing in a future to planning for a very bright future.

We took you and BFF to dinner theatre to see Beauty and the Beast. Not the Disney Version, but over the top crazy version, semi-redneck. Poor Beast, at the end, that mansion turned back into a double wide home.

We gave you tickets to see Carrie Underwood for your birthday and since your dad hates country music, we had a girls night and took your friend, K3.  A was there too and we had an amazing time.

We took you and K2 to the Make America Rock Again concert and she loved it so much. K2 is such a respectful kid and we really enjoyed her.  She was stunned to find out you weren't kidding about having a baby sister.

We took you and B to see Cirque du Soleil.  B is insanely crazy and cute in small doses, but has no manners and would get on anybodys nerves long term.  Not using utensils for a upper scale Mexican restaurant, really?  Her parents said she talked non-stop about how fun it was though. It was nice to be able to share experiences with somebody not able to do that themselves.

We took you and BFF to see Santa and the Nutcracker.  BFF is so adorbs.  Moose sat on your BFF's head while y'all unwrapped your BFF hoodies.

You had 4 boyfriends this year, only 1 of which you wanted to "go OUT" with.  We like him.  The others, not so much. I didn't want you out with them anyway. I trusted them as far as we could throw them.

You went to several parties and even went out of town with BFF to trampoline park. All of that was a really big deal.  You used to not even tell us about parties, not wanting to go, now you're a social butterfly.

You had your first "date", fishing with Z.

We took you and Z to see Blue Oyster Cult and him and dad had a great time at dinner talking about video games.  Y'all shared a funnel cake and afterwards you said "Did you see Z feeding me? did you think it was sweet? I bet most people did, but I bet he did it to make sure I didn't eat the whole thing"

We went to VA Beach and you finally didn't hate it, with it being crowded.  You got a henna tattoo of Tweety Bird.

You got a car--cute Beetle with your school mascot on the license tag and the car is your school main color.  Your got your learners permit and driving me insane with the constant need to drive, even when we have nothing to do.

Your cousin got married and you handled the crowd, the change in schedule and the timing like a champ, we were so proud of you. We went to visit her a couple months before for the shower and you played with the little kids there.

We went to a water park with your sister and she has made enough progress that she let ME go on a water slide with her when you weren't interested in going.  She also was nearly in tears when we left, showing that she's learning healthy attachments.

We went to the Broadway show of Rudolph for Christmas, which was insanely fun. You thought you were too old for it, until we got there and you found out how appropriate it was for all ages.  You said you hoped that they were nearby this year too, so we could go again.

We went to see Cheap Trick, one of dads favorites, and you got another guitar pick for your collection.  Your sister called while we were there and asked us to bring her home for Thanksgiving. We weren't able to, so we went to her for Thanksgiving and ate at Cracker Barrel.

We went to see Rick Springfield, moms teen heartthrob, and mom jumped out and hugged him and you couldn't believe it.

Mom went to Arizona and you handled mom being gone like a pro and video chatted with me a couple times.  You sprained your wrist while I was gone though.

We went to the Broadway show of Cinderella. It was good, but I think you liked Rudolph tons better, probably partially for seating.

We took you and I to see Pat Benetar and John Waite in concert and you two were roasting all of us old people and having entirely too much fun with snapchat filters on random strangers.

Your uncle from Germany visited and we all went to a cajun festival together.  I finally got to try alligator there, you stuck with your old standby, chicken nuggets.

We attended high school graduation together and you didn't sit with me, being a big high school girl, you sat with friends.  I think I'm suppose to be offended, but I was nothing but proud.

15 was amazing and I'm so excited to see what 16 brings for you and us.
I love you baby bear! To the moon and back!!

Sweet 16

Baby girl monkey butt turned 16 last month.
Where does the time go?

We had a great sweet 16 celebration. There was 70% chance of rain that day, but not a drop of rain, perfect weather for a great pool party.

More friends in attendance this year, the attendance goes up every year.   They had a crazy good time. We extended time of party to include lunch of a hotdog cookout and the party was suppose to be 12-4.  As it turns out, the first person arrived before 11 and the last person to leave (other than cousin who tends to stay til bedtime) was around 6:30.

We invited her baby sister, who ended up being able to attend. This is only the 2nd party since kiddo has lived here that she was able to attend.

Kiddo said it was amazing being able to have baby sister, boyfriend and best friend all in the same location.

So many people invited that we had to have cupcakes in addition to the cake this year.  

BFF spent the night, the kids all had an amazing time and I got thank yous and "can't wait for the next party she has" from alot of her friends and a "You have the most amazing parties". 

We held the party the Saturday before her bday since her birthday fell during the week, so for her birthday I took the day off, hubs and I took her and her boyfriend to the park. They invited me to play truth or dare with them, lol, and then we took them to the Mexican Restaurant, where kiddo got sung to, wore a sombrero and got whipped cream pushed in her face by the staff.

A birthday to remember! 

Progress in Dating

Our beautiful angel has had a string of inappropriate boyfriends for the past few years.  She wouldn't even ask to date them after she got of age to date because she knew they were inappropriate, but it was as if she couldn't begin to be interested in a decent guy.

In February, she came home and said she finally dumped A, the guy everybody said over and over wasn't good enough for her.  Then she came home and said B was her boyfriend.  Yes, A, then B.  I did my homework and found he was a scumbag too.  He even looked scary like he'd do something to her.  She came home and said she broke up with him, that he was a jerk.

We laughingly asked if she was going thru the alphabet for her high school years and if she really wanted that reputation of so many boyfriends. We asked who all at school had names starting with C, since she was going thru the alphabet.  It became a running joke and for a few weeks, she left boys alone and was telling the creeps no.

Then came the day...she came home and said remember "Z" that I've been friends with since 7th grade, well, he's my new boyfriend.

Yeah, we had to laugh about her jumping right to Z.

She said "I decided you're right, it's better to date a friend or nobody at all".  Not only that, but a week later, over dinner, it was "Mom, Dad, I need to ask you something" She actually wanted to go OUT with this boy. Finally one she trusted.

She's been dating him a few months, we like him and they are friends and not 24/7 on each other.  When we got ready to officially meet him (we'd met him at back to school previously, but not in a setting where we got to know each other), she said "Dad, I think I'm worried because you two will talk and I'll be left out, because y'all are alot alike".

Finally, she liked somebody like her dad and not somebody like the past people in her life that ended up in jail, etc.

They are similar enough that I feel like it's not going to be long term, but it's definitely a step in the right direction.  It's a promising sign that she's looking for stability and goodness and not just that bad boy chemistry.

Momma brag

It's been awhile since I've posted, but I needed a place to brag on my baby, so here goes.

Kiddo just turned 16 last month. She was 11 when she moved in, a short 4 months after being separated from her younger sister.

Along the years, we have had sibling visits and watched them progress from high anxiety short visits to fun longer visits.

When our kiddo first moved in, getting rid of any material thing was unheard of.  She'd lost so many things, she'd cling to everything she could.

Next month, baby sis will be 13.  Baby sis still doesn't have a home.

As I was putting together a box of gifts for her, kiddo said she had some books for her and asked for my help to get them together.  They were books we'd given her for her 13th birthday, as well as books we'd given her when shark week entered her life.  She hand picked which ones were appropriate for her, flipping thru, laughing and remembering us and our talks with those books.  She picked out the ones that her sister could read and self guide to learn the necessities and left the one on her shelf that required parental involvement and left the one that was more difficult to follow.

I was so impressed when kiddo explained her logic in her choices. She really has grown so much and has such a good head on her shoulders now.

So, baby sis is getting a good collection of teenage situation books by American Girl as well as the American Medical Associations Guide to Becoming a Teen Girl handbook.

Today we went to her psych for update.  Back in December, she had one med significantly reduced and today she got another med reduced for trial purposes.  I couldn't be more pleased with how hard our baby girl has worked and how well adjusted she's getting.

I hope I didn't jinx us with this post.

I love that kid.