Teagan's 14th birthday

Fourteen years ago today I went into the hospital at 5:30 in the morning with an eviction notice for my baby girl who was almost 2 weeks past her due date. They started the medicine and I was so excited to soon be able to see the little girl I had been carrying for so long and to see what a mixture of Scott and I would look like.

 

Shortly after 4:30, after only pushing 4 times, my 8lb 2oz baby girl made her entrance. And it was love at first sight. From her head full of dark hair and her wrinkled little ear that I had to unfold, all the way down to her long-toed feet, she was perfect.

 

She was a beautiful baby from the very beginning and her disposition and personality were (and are) just as beautiful. A good baby, a good kid, and so far a good teen as well.

 

Today she turned 14. We're closer to dating and boys and driving and boys and leaving for college. At 14 she can go to dances and youth conference...there will be boys there. I'm not sure I'm ready for all of that, but she seems to be gliding comfortably along...not in a rush for anything, but not terrified of it either. Good for her.

 We had an impromptu get together with a couple of her friends and their families for her birthday dinner. The two girls, Kelsey and Riley, spent the night with us too. We opened gifts and laughed laughed and played games all night.

 She got books from me and the boys, a polka dot blanket from Emmett, some hair things from her aunt, a couple of the Twilight movies from her granny (which was exactly what she wanted for her birthday!), and her friend Kelsey gave her a new Hunger Games board game that we played a few rounds of and loved. But her all-time favorite gift was a compound bow and arrow set her daddy bought for her...it's not a Katniss Everdeen bow, but she loves it all the same! She was pretty miffed when the boys all got bows and arrows for Christmas - apparently (according to her) she has been asking us for her own bow now for a couple of years and we have not been paying attention. Add on to that her obsession with Katniss from Hunger Games and her love of the movie Brave, and she was the perfect contender for someone needing a bow of her own!

 The next morning when everyone woke up I took Teagan and her friends and Garrett and Emmett to the church camp site to go practice with their bows and arrows.

We love Garrett, Owen, and Emme's bows, but after using Teagan's new compound bow we have realized what a REAL bow can do! Hers had SO MUCH power!! It was a lot of fun to use! We need to go to Cabella's and have it sized for her and have them teach her how to hold it properly, but even with amateur knowledge it is a lot of fun to use!

 Emmett got frustrated trying to coordinate using his bow so he modified his technique and found that he has much better grouping accuracy this way:

 See how nicely they are all together! He may not have the distance, but that's accuracy!

 He was much more interested in playing on the play set while the girls pretended to be Katniss and practiced their shooting.

 I love having big kids, they are so much fun. And Teagan is such a wonderful big kid to have! I love how she is stuck in between being a kid and being a grown up - and how she knows how and when to flip from one to the other. I'm still pretty much stuck at that same state, so it's nice to have a buddy :-)

She is my best friend. She is a funny and kind and helpful, smart and witty and fast. She reminds me a little of myself when I was her age, and a lot of what I want to be when I grow up. She offers her help and love so freely and is mature beyond her age. She loves to laugh and smile and be happy. She is a bookworm to the max, a music lover to the nth degree, and an all around great person. To know her is to love her.

Happy birthday to my Peanut Butter! I am so glad you are my daughter and friend!