18 already!?!

today my little girl turns 18, and it's hard to know where the years went, but i know the best is yet to come. she may officially be an adult, but i will always see her as my sweet little brown-eyed beauty.

happy birthday, big sister!!

18th birthday cookies

what better way to commemorate a milestone birthday than with custom cookies?

the party

big sister invited friends over to help celebrate her big 1-8 birthday.  she gave them each a letter of the alphabet, with instructions to dress in costume with their choice of something that starts with that letter.  the group mostly hung out, ate pizza, snacks & cake, and played on the wii.  and somewhere in there they did a mini photo shoot!

the party

a joint party with her bestie (who turned 16 on 7/22) is how little sister wanted to celebrate!  and there was lots of pink!

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i created a set of cookies for the party.  the cars were gluten-free, made from a store-bought mix.  both girls have vw beetles to drive, so it was highly appropriate & so very cute!

licensed to drive

with a break in her band rehearsal schedule - there was finally time to turn in all her paperwork, including her passed road test, and make this girl a (provisionally) licensed driver!

and as soon as we got home.......she left.  :-(

sweet sixteen

happy sweet sixteen to little sister!  she spent the day at band camp & going out to lunch with friends.  her main gift - the 2017 beetle parked in the garage - just has a few more days of waiting for its new owner to earn her official license.  take a good look, because once she becomes official, we will likely never see her much!

the pre-party

dinner with her sports friends to celebrate turning 16!