Sweet 16

I can't believe our sweet little angel is now 16!!  Time has flown by way too fast!  Jessica is a beautiful young woman who brings me joy everyday!  She is a second mother to Rylee, & is a natural with all kids!  She has become an amazing photographer & keeps us laughing with her sarcasm & quick wit!  She is our angel & we love her so much!!

She went back and forth between having a big birthday party or just inviting a few friends to go to the midnight opening of the Hunger Games!  Can you tell which one she picked!!  We had way too much fun planning for the big night!!  

I girl only turns 16 once, so I decided to go all out & make some fun, 'authentic' Hunger Games food (thanks again to Pinterest!!).  We had orange juice, rabbit skewers, fruitcopias, trail mix, bread & cookies from Peeta's bakery, Wild greens salad & some fun cupcakes!

 Then we made these fun t-shirts & bags and headed to the theater!  Rylee got so caught up in the excitement of the night, was such a great helper planning everything & we ended up with an extra ticket, so I didn't have the heart to tell her she couldn't come.   It worked out great because I really didn't want her to see the movie, but she got to feel like one of the big kids, then fell asleep during the previews & woke up for the last few minutes of the movie!

We surprised Jess on her birthday with a fabulous day!!  First stop was to the DMV to get her license, then shopping, a makeover, a massage and yep, even a new car!!  She was speechless!!!  I would have to say it was a pretty great day, until that evening when we got a call from my mom telling us that her dad would probably not live much more than a day or two.  So we rushed up there and spent some time with my family & said goodbye to my sweet grandpa.  Lots of tears were shed that evening!