eighteen candles & first love

dan's mom always baked our birthday cakes,

usually yellow cake with chocolate buttercream frosting.

after she passed away i had hoped to keep up her tradition.

thankfully i am blessed to have madison

who is wonderful in the kitchen.

she whipped up not only savannah's cake

but she also made cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for all her best friends.

i love celebrating valentines day

not only because it's smk's birthday

but any excuse to love on my people

& overuse the colors pink and red is ok by me.

 

 

 i love picking up little happies for the girls.

this year they each got a little something fun

(jeweled flip flops for smk, hair flower for mgk,

itouch cover for emi, and a lilly notepad for little one)

some candy and a bottle of nail polish.

 chocolate and a button down for my sweetie

 

i've always encouraged the girls to pass on the boyfriend thing.

at least until they're sixteen-ish (or better yet-thirty!)

trying to encourage them to pass on all the drama between girl friends it can cause,

messing up friendships with their guy friends

& plus....i would love to spare them the potential heartbreak as long as possible.

savannah has always been a tough sale,

so i really didn't have to preach it to her.

her standards are mighty high.

she & trevor started dating last year

& let me tell you, she knocked the ball out of the park with him.

of course, i think he did too.

he was her first guy friend when she changed schools in 7th grade.

she always talked about what a great friend he was

.....well, now they are just too sweet together.

 he set quite the precedent for all future first boyfriends for my other girls

in how he handled their first valentines day together.

i hope they don't die a thousand deaths

but i can't resist...

after school she ran in & told me to come look at her car

she was beaming!

he had filled it with all her favorite candies, cards, stuffed animals

and balloons. lots of balloons!

 

 

can you stand it?

what a happy day!

madison came in with her cute valentines~

later that day, a little visit from one of my favorite girls

who made the most amazing red velvet cupcakes.

love you sweet abby!!

caroline with her blowpop turned elephant with googly eyes

valentines craft

hand hearts with sweet emi

 

 we had a special guest join us for dinner,

while the sweethearts headed out for their special evening together.

& because nothing is sacred, i'll tell you

that he gave her the prettiest ring.

sweet child of mine

i am so thankful that you were blessed & loved on by so many people 

this is such a wonderful time in your life.

hold these memories & tuck them into your heart!