Little Miss 11

We celebrated Natalie's birthday all day Friday. Actually, it started on Thursday & we were still celebrating on Saturday, and she hasn't had a party yet! She's not having a big party this year, but will have some sleepovers with different friends.

On Thursday with the Smith/Garrison families joined together we sang to Natalie & she got gifts from Grandma & Uncle Greg & Aunt Robin. CLOTHES and a gift card! Just her style! She also got to pick a pie for her "birthday pie." She picked cherry.

On Friday we drove to New Braunfels to celebrate with Mammaw & Poppaw (my parents). We went to this fun Mexican Restaurant. Well, it's fun to us because we've had several birthday dinners there and they do the whole make you wear a sombrero (we hope they sanitize it well) and sing to you, plus free sopapillas. The girls like to get alcohol-free margaritas/pina coladas---aka slushies! They have the BEST ones ever. Puts Sonic to shame & we love Sonic! Natalie got Mango & Bethany got Pina Colada flavor. If only I could make a mango slushy that good, or at all!

We went back to Mammaw's & Poppaw's house to have cake, which Natalie decorated by herself. She reminded me she had done the one last year, but she just used a star tip & filled in the wings of a butterfly. We bought this giant cupcake pan to make this cake. I hope we use it a lot as Wilton thinks highly of their products when they price them!
Then we helped decorate Mammaw & Poppaw's tree. Here Poppaw is trying to get the star to stay on top of the tree. Natalie is directing traffic, I'm sure. We call Poppaw Boss-Boss (my nephew named him that about 25 years ago), my niece Becky is Boss Jr. & Natalie is Baby Boss. LOL!

On the way home we stopped at Wal-Mart to look at bicycles in the hopes of putting one on layway, and to look at what she might want to use her gift card to buy. We found out Wal-Mart no longer has layaway, at least not here (and hasn't for 3 years), so we bit the bullet & bought a bike! She LOVED it. From online pics it looked hot pink, but it was more of a fuschia/purple which is what she wanted. It is a good fit for her & will grow with her for many years. If she doesn't get too tall she can use this into adulthood if it stays in shape. It has 24" wheels. Most adult bikes have 26" wheels & kids' bikes stop at 20". Apparently kids are supposed to grow 6" one summer or something.

On Saturday we went to Starbucks to get her a much wanted Peppermint Mocha (thanks Poppaw!) and Bethany & I got Peppermint hot cocoa. Honestly, it was not cold enough to enjoy the hot cocoa as much as I should have, but it was quite tasty. Then to another Wal-Mart to search for something to use that gift card on. She ended up getting a Webkinz & has a bit more $$ on the card.

Our baby is officially 11. I heard a great quote last night, "Life goes by fast, but some days seem really long." It's so true. The days...or nights when she didn't want to sleep in her crib were torturously long, but these years have flown by. Today in Girl Scouts we talked about decisions they'd be making in the next 10 years, such as college. She said, "I'm going to ATM because that's where my dad & Becky want me to go." (Becky is her cousin & ATM is Texas A&M---I corrected her, but I think saying it that way proves she is Aggie material--ha, ha!) College is a scary thought when you are the teacher from now until then! I want to enjoy the days while we have them here. She is indeed growing up!