Happy Birthday Mimi

Our baby girl is 14. She has thought that she has been 14 since she was 3, but now she is 14 for real. Note the missing chunk of the cake? She thought that because it was her birthday she could eat her cake whenever she wanted. Gifts from friends.

It was so special to have Grandma round for Maryn's birthday. We had a fun girl afternoon out. She treated Maryn to a manicure.

And then a yummy girls lunch out to our favorite international food court.

On Saturday Maryn requested we go ice skating as a family. It was a bit nerve racking for some.

Gram-Gram stayed close to the wall, waiting for her teenage ice skating legs to come back. (they didn't.)

Kaden realized he LOVED ice skating going around and around and around the rink. He didn't even notice the humongous blisters forming on his ankles.

Since Maryn was born our lives have never been boring. She is nothing but spunkiness and spaziness. It's so weird to watch your kids get older because we are now watching Maryn get a bit more mature. She not only is looking older but acting it.

She sees that I need help and asks what she can do to help.

She's cooking more in the kitchen.

Her job is doing the family laundry. Although we're working on trying not to let the laundry build up too much, she does a decent job of it.

Her favorite singing group right now is Celtic Thunder. The men's Irish singing group which has a couple of super cute guys in it.

She loves to eat candy and chips. She especially loves to eat them at night in her room before she goes to sleep. (I personally feel that habit is disgusting and not a good one, so we're working on it.)

She just now has started to enjoy reading.

She loves to hang out at Target with her friends.

All of the other kids in the family get jealous of Maryn when they have their friends over because the friends like playing with Maryn.

Her homeschooling experience is coming along pretty ok.

Her favorite meal to eat is Beef Stroganoff.

Her new passion is ballroom dancing.

She is a gifted piano player if only we could get her to practice more.

She loves to wear the highest pony tails.

She was found coloring the underneath part of her hair with food coloring. Her neck was blue for a couple of days afterwards.

She is tuned into my feelings and can see when I am stressed out or tired. She asks if I am ok, tells me to go to my room and then takes over the house for a little while.

She loves to paint her nails with bright colors and then pick it off the next day.

When Maryn was little I got so tired of saying ,"Maryn, come here! Maryn stop that! Maryn do this! Maryn! Maryn!" So, I told her I was going to call her Wanda instead. She also answers to Lucy, Betty, Mimi, Marmyn, Mims, Sally.

In her future Maryn can pretty much do whatever she wants to do and do it well because she is strong willed and naturally talented. If she can only focus her attention and learn to use her time wisely the world is pretty much hers to do what she wants with. We love having Maryn around. When she's not home she leaves a big hole.

We love her!

Happy Birthday.