Abbie's 13th Birthday

We officially have a teenager in the house! Abbie celebrated her birthday on Saturday, February 8th because her actual birthday was on Sunday the 9th. She invited four friends to have dinner at "Steak and Shake" followed by a round of bowling. Her request was to have a booth all to themselves, so Micah and I ate at a table just a few feet away to keep an eye on them.

I was so proud of these girls ordering and taking care of everything all by themselves. Abbie has a great ability to chose good friends, and they had so much fun together. 

 A few silly selfless off Abbie's phone during dinner.

We bought everyone matching, silly socks for bowling. We wrapped them all up with candy and treats to munch on. They seemed to be a hit.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching these young ladies interact with each other, and play a game together. They are so cute! I also really enjoyed that her party was so easy for me to organize and follow through with. All I had to do is kick back and watch these girls have fun. That's my kind of party.

The next day was Abbie's actual birthday. With it being Sunday, we tried to make it as fun as we could. She woke up to streamers in her favorite color, and with church at 1:00pm we were able to enjoy a relaxing morning together. 

In fact she was ready for church early, and had time to just relax and play on her phone. I snuck this picture right before we left for church. Abbie is in the process of redoing her room, so most of her gifts were related to that this year.

She requested an ice cream cake which was delicious. Basically, we stacked ice cream sandwiches together, put cool whip, oreo's and fudge on top. It's one of our family favorites.

We have the tradition of the birthday girl picking all her favorite foods to eat on her special day. Here is the list of Abbie's favorite food picks.

I'm having them also fill out a survey each birthday so we can remember what they were doing or liked at each age.

I started the tradition this year to also have every member of the family write the birthday girl a special note to read before bed on their birthday. Below is Abbie's notes ready to be read waiting on her pillow. A fun surprise to end her special day.

Abbie is growing up to be such a wonderful young lady. I am always impressed by her ability to make everyone smile who is around her, and she is always such a good example to everyone. She is a wonderful teenager and I'm so thankful to be her mother.