Finally...17

Seventeen means you can drive without restrictions.

Seventeen means you will be a senior soon.

Seventeen is cool.

Seventeen means your parents can still tease you...

about all those clothes laying on your floor.

And give you a new alarm clock because the other one that fails to wake you up...wakes them up!!

And surprise you with a cool new Penguins' jersey--just in time for the Stanley Cup playoffs!

A couple days later friends and family gathered to share in the celebration.

A piano cake from Dairy Queen required a road trip...but worth every bite!

All those years glowing!

May wishes come true this year for my beautiful birthday girl

...who made me a mother so many years ago!

Feisty Fifteen

The vandals struck the night before.  Ron was collecting evidence early then next morning when Kiahra looked out her window...and saw the brazen vandals' signatures...

and the love...everywhere!

Then they headed outside.

Only to learn several neighbors caught the evening action!

Evidently the vandals didn't elicit much concern amongst the neighborhood watch...just smiles!

As we started cleaning, my disappointment in our neighborhood watch mounted!

Though morning donuts helped sweeten my perspective.

Kiahra cautiously unwrapped her present.  Then when it came time to open the box she shook everything out without even looking--fearful that an electronic spider might be lurking!

Footloose isn't quite as scary!

She grew braver the second time when she caught a glimpse of something that made her smile very big!  A mini iPad!

The cake queen requested homemade cake, so I used my favorite white box mix and attempted to creatively top it with raspberry cream cheese frosting.

Daddy lit 15 celebratory candles amidst lots of laughter...and the strains of Happy Birthday filled the house as 15 voices of friends and family sang together.

Ten weeks of training.  Push-ups.  Running. 

Obstacle Course.  Rapelling.  Search and Rescue. 

Teamwork.  

76th Academy Graduation Ceremony

Kiahra smiles as she received her hard-earned Certificate.

She stood at attention.  Then her name was called again.  She was recognized for being the second place female in physical agility.  I was so excited.  I was clapping proudly when her daddy nudged me and said, "Picture."  Of course I missed it.

Kiahra received her badge from her father.

A a big hug.

A proud moment.

Surrounded by her sister and best friend.

And her family.

We are so proud of you!

Spring Break

Early in the morning (for teenagers), I loaded the suburban with kids (seven, if you are counting) and cruised over to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.   When we arrived families were pouring out of the parking lot into the park.  Admittedly, I was intimidated, but soon I was standing in line for my first roller coaster of the day with Chayse.   The wait was minimal, and the fun began!

The kids scampered from ride to ride and I would catch glimpses of them randomly. 

Then Chayse discovered the animals.  She fed the giraffe who gobbled her veggies greedily.

Then when she sat down to wait, evidently she and the giraffe were captivated by the something to their left.

   The African elephant charmed us with her "feats!"

She seemed to enjoy showing off!

Then we meandered by the stadium for the dolphin show at just the right time, so we stepped inside and I found seat in the shade, as the kids selected the splash zone! 

The dolphins were fun to watch, but tricky to photograph!  Generally I only captured the splash--except this time you can see the tails too!

We topped off the day with Dairy Queen before we journeyed back home...a quiet settling over the suburban as the movie rolled.

Classic

Finally, the vintage Levi shorts arrived in the mail.  Kiahra has been impatiently waiting for them.  The highly sought after high waisted Levi 512 fit her perfectly.

(Did I mention that I used to wear the same jeans?  And paid less for them?  Vintage aka mom is old.)

As the evening drew nigh, we were teasing her, so Kiahra decided to show us she could do squats...or not so much...so she switched to plies.  Granted she does those infinitely better than squats.  As I stood at the top of the stairs, I threatened to show her how a real squat was done....except every single step I take burns from the squats the trainer insisted I do at the gym this morning.  The idea of walking down the steps to make good on my threat was too much, so we bantered, as she danced in her "new" Levi's challenging me to try plies.

This entertainment session had her sister rolling on the floor to which Kiahra demanded, "Get yourself together.  Stand up!"

"Says the girl who can't even sit down," came the instant retort.

Vintage jeans don't have spandex and admittedly it takes some adaptation, but in the name of fashion...they look good!

And did I mention her multi-tasking ability?  She can make perfect popcorn on the cooktop while reading!