Sweet Sixteen!

Happy Sunday! First and foremost: My show is back tonight! 3 whole months without Once Upon a Time is no fun. You have no idea how excited we are -- and we might be throwing a little viewing party. (Yes, our shows are serious business.) Ohhhh the excitement!

Some family gently reminded me this week that I was a little behind on blogging about Paige's Sweet 16. Oops...this week has flown by, and I completely got absorbed in other projects!

Paige had a pretty fabulous 16th! The Birthday Girl chose a local Mexican Restaurant for her dinner – I don’t think she expected them to come put a sombrero on her head a top the crown she wore, and loudly sing to her. She played the embarrassed card, but I know she secretly liked it & had a great time!

my beautiful girl! 

Operation make a huge deal of the 16th Birthday was a success!

She was tickled by pretty much everything, from her dinner, to the flowers her little brother picked out for her,  to the balloons I came in with. (Ever tried to fit lifesize Sweet Sixteen balloons in a Ford Focus? The struggle is real, folks. Thank GOD I scratched the “I’m going to get the giant Sweet 16, and then 16 balloons to surround it!” idea!)  And of course, she was quite pleased with the $$ in her cards. The joys of being a teenager is everyone knows cash is on your mind, and usually gives you that. That made present opening time quite easy and quick! This year, she got cash & a Disney World trip this November  from Aunt Nicole, so now it's time for us to start planning! Not to mention, she can save that cash and buy her own souvenirs at Disney!

What really made it nice was Mom was feeling up to going out (she's still recovering from her surgery, thanks to everyone whose checked in!), and my bestie drove up to celebrate with us, so we had a full house of people who just wanted to celebrate our girl!

partying with the sis, birthday girl & mom!

sis & bestie!

For home, we had it a little more low-key. All she really asked for were these pretty fabulous cupcakes my sister had made:

And her highness even indulged me and let me shove the camera in her face a few times without the "Ughh Aunt Nicole, are you taking more pictures of me?!"

my gorgeous girl! this face still melts my heart just like it did 16 years ago! 

the girl spent forever in the bathroom beforehand, so Paige could curl her hair and get dolled up. Definitely the belle of the ball ;)

Happy Birthday lovebug! 

All in all, Paige had a really fabulous Sweet 16. And being a total sap, she let me know she read my blog that I'd written on her birthday, which made her cry. Which of course made me cry that she cried. Ahhh....we're so related!