Molly turned 14 on Tuesday, September 15, 2006. What a blessing she is to our family! We started her celebrations the night before, on Monday. She had a soccer game so my parents, along with Chloe and Abby, came up to watch her play. They came to our house after. I had made some sweet pork salads earlier in the day so they ate with us and gave Molly her gifts. They gave her a new dress, some shoes, a Beach Boys record, and a longboard.
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| Chloe, Molly, Abby |
Go figure, her actually birthday ended up falling on the busiest day of the week. I did my best to make it special and she was a good sport about it. She got French Toast for breakfast. She wanted banana pancakes but I dropped the ball and forgot to buy bananas far enough in advance for them to be ripe enough. So this was second choice.
She went to school, as usual, but I did deliver lunch to her. She asked for a sweet pork salad from Cafe Rio. Yes, we had just had the homemade version the night before for dinner but she wanted it again. Her wish was my command so Ivy and I found ourselves dropping it off during her lunch hour. I told her I would check her out and we could go out to eat, but she wanted to stay at the school with her friends. She must be 14 or something.
She actually had a free afternoon that day, which can be unusual-if we're busy, Molly is almost always part of it. I had piano lessons, Ivy had ballet with a soccer game right after that. So I was tied up until close to 7 that night. Justin had to go to a city council meeting-he was trying to get them to pass a new zoning requirement so his new branch could be built next year so he really couldn't miss. Then he went straight to baseball, where Stockton was as well. So they didn't get home until after 8. We hadn't had a day that busy for a long time and we haven't had one since. I felt bad that it happened to be on her birthday.
I told her to invite a couple of friends over (she wasn't having a party this year) and they could hang out all afternoon. She had Sloane Ellingford and Sadie Job come over. I made some pizza dough and kept it in the fridge and bought all sorts of toppings for a pizza bar. They had pizza, ordered Crumbl cookies to be delivered, talked, pranked called boys, and generally did stuff that 13-14 year old girls like to do. This is the one photo I snuck of them.
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| Molly, Sadie, Sloane |
Finally, finally, finally we all were home and she was able to do presents and cake. We didn't even do a scavenger hunt. Her presents were super simple. She got her favorite requested treats (white cheddar popcorn, orange creme Twizzlers, and Cow Tails) and money. I know, money!! But, she was really wanting to re-decorate her room and we thought this would be the best way for her to do it just how she liked it. She had been looking online for months and had all sorts of ideas and I didn't have a clue what to pick out for her. She was really excited with the cash and we were able to make it down to Ikea the next week after she had a soccer game in Draper where she was able to get lots of fun things for her room.
For her cake, she also looked at lots of recipes and options. She finally decided on a chocolate strawberry shortcake. I make the cake layers and then she layered them, piled them with strawberries and whipped cream, and drizzled the whole thing with chocolate. We sang to her and had some cake before sending everyone to bed.
The last bit of her birthday wasn't until Friday night when Gene and April drove up to say hi and give her some gifts. Molly had told April that she was wanting some succulents for her room and April came through with some of those, along with some pots for Molly to paint. She also got her 14-year old doll.
Molly got to wear her new church dress to actual church that Sunday. She looked so pretty. Can't believe how fast she is growing up! She reminds us often that in under a year, she will get her driver's permit! Ahh!
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