officially a teenager

happy birthday #13 to our sweet little sister!!  it seems like you just had a birthday, yet here we are again.  we hope you don't let being a teenager now change the way you act & treat others, and we hope this is a great age for you!!

oklahoma week

the girls left for their week-long stay in oklahoma with grandma & grandpa last sunday.  they started out at their house, where they helped out a few days at the foster kids store with grandma, and they also enjoyed a birthday-gift shopping spree of sorts.  one night they enjoyed a visit with kaden, zoey, & parents as they were passing through town heading back home.  i think that might have been the highlight of their time.  they requested a trip to the science museum also.

on wednesday, they headed to the lake and helped out with various projects, but they mostly enjoyed the freedom of driving around on the golf cart on their own.  when daddy & I arrived on friday night, we got to hear about all their adventures and just relax with them.  the highlight for me was getting them to nestle together on the swing to recreate a pic of them from when they were 2 & 4, and then 7 & 9, and now 12 & 14.  so precious!!

room makeovers

we've been doing mini-remodels to the girls' bedrooms for what seems like most of the summer.  while little sister was away in florida, we converted the playroom into big sister's bedroom.  it was a bittersweet moment for me, since the girls have been sharing a room (by choice) for their whole lives.

first big sister picked out new bedding,

then we painted the walls teal blue to match.  in total, it took the better part of a weekend to do this.  the only things we purchased were: bedding, paint, two small nightstands, curtains, star light strand & memo-board supplies.

then when little sister came home, she started planning her own room makeover.  she also got new bedding, and we had pulled the bunk bed out of the attic for her since big sister had taken the double bed.  she really liked the configuration of the top bunk only over a sitting/tv space below.  then she got a crazy idea: she wanted to paint one of the walls with a hexagon pattern.  we first painted the builder-beige wall a bright white.  this only took a few hours on a saturday morning.  starting on sunday, she taped (and taped, and taped) off all of the hexagons.

by friday, she was done painting and we were able to put her furniture back into place.

 

 now both girls barely come out of their rooms and seem to be happy with their new setups.

happy fourth!

it's nice that we can still see the town's fireworks show from our backyard!

 

happy 70th!

we started planning the party a few months ago....and it was very difficult, but we managed to keep it a secret from the birthday girl! so needless to say, i was super happy to have this huge 'lie' out in the open, finally.

it took some sneaky photo-collection skills to create this collage, as i was trying to have one photo for each age, 1 to 69.....the very early years were a challenge, so i made some of mama's favorite pics larger to make up for it.

 the cupcakes were homemade - lemon, chocolate, & carrot cake - baked and decorated with cream cheese icing.

 the food was made to order by come and get it chuck wagon.

mama was totally surprised, and even commented how she's never had a party for her birthday....ever!  so we were so pleased we had pulled one off.  she was also happy to see lots of family and friends that she doesn't see very often.

i think she may have even wore the '70 & fabulous' sash to bed that night! ;-)

the last day

we woke up bright and early, excited about making it all the way home today.  we left before breakfast and even before the sun came up.  around 6:30am, we were entering our home state of texas.

we stopped for fuel and some breakfast snacks in one of the many small towns we went through past amarillo.  it was cloudy most of the drive and we went through some light rain.

we made it to home sweet home around 12:30pm, and our cats were happy to see us.

day 9

with nothing on the agenda today except for driving, we were able to enjoy breakfast at the hotel before heading out.  it was a cool 59°, and we knew this was the last time we’d have the cooler temps on our trip.  only 20 miles into our drive, we entered into new mexico.

we made a quick first stop after only another 15 miles at the aztec ruins national monument in the town of aztec.  this was a small park that preserves ancestral puebloan structures.  we did some exploring, but were back on the road by around 9:45am.

 
 

we continued our drive south towards albuquerque.  the sky had some pretty cool-looking clouds, and we could tell it was raining somewhere.  (thankfully not over us!)  we also crossed the continental divide.

we made it to albuquerque by lunchtime, and i insisted (as the driver) that we stop at
chick-fil-a.  it sure was hot!

from albuquerque, we got onto i-40 and continued another 175 miles to our stop for the night: tucumcari.  after exploring the small town, we ended up at taco bell for dinner and then sonic for dessert.  our hotel was surprisingly nice for being right off the interstate and across from a large truck stop.  after a quick swim for the girls, we went to bed in good spirits, knowing that this was out last night to sleep in a hotel bed.