and we celebrate ...

We celebrated Hayley's bday in stages.

Stage 1. ... with family on her actual birthday. She wanted to have it at her grandmom's house. Got her a cake from the Bundt Shoppe in Castle Pines (SO yummy ..) and celebrated with most the fam. All she wanted for her birthday was an Iphone. How could I not ... it's her 16th - and really .. it could have been worse - like a car....

Stage 2... with her friends - a pool party. I love that her birthday is in the summer and she's able to have a party at the pool. As a mother and the one in charge of set up and clean up .. SURE made it easy. She had about 12 teenagers there - mostly from church, some from school. Cool group of kids. They ate pizza ... she opened presents... ate cake ... and played in the pool.

At one point I watched her from across the pool and was just super proud of her. She is who she is and doesn't pretend to be someone she's not. She's confident but not in an arrogant way .. just sure about herself. I envy that really... I also thought about how "cool" she is ... and how it's easy to like her. I'm happy for her. Really happy. She's a great girl who's got TERRIFIC friends.

This girl's gonna be okay. She's got it.

(oh oh oh .. just a warning for those who might be in this situation in the future. never ever ever walk close to the edge of the pool .. dressed .. in shoes ... with camera in hand. you'll get pushed/pulled in by a teenager nearby. you'll feel like you are drowning as your clothes weigh you down .. while you hold one hand up in the air holding the camera out of the water .. and the other flailing to keep you afloat. i lived .. the camera - not so lucky)