Last Thursday, my sister turned 16! For a while now she's been talking about how her favorite color combo is blue and yellow... I thought it would be fun to go ALL out.
The surprises began late the night before. With the help of my Mom and brother the one hundred million balloons
were blown up, the tissue paper flowers were made, and the initial
decorations went up!
On the morning of her birthday she came upstairs and knew SOMETHING was up right away! My brother was excited to see what her reactions would be.
Next we moved on to making Ree's fried fruit pies that my sister had requested. This was a trial run and it went very well. We got about 25 fruit pies out of the deal and decided that we prefer the smaller ones.
After the fruit pies were over and the cleaning marathon was finished, my sister went to visit some friends who had birthday surprises for her.
While she was away, we did some more decorating...
I loved the idea of hanging balloons from the ceiling and stringing crepe paper everywhere!
The picture collage was a lot of fun to put together. I spent several hours going through the pictures that I've taken over the years looking for the ones that were super cute, extra memorable, or just plain goofy!
The center piece looks like an innocent balloon bouquet, but at dinner, the guests found out otherwise!
Thanks goes to my Mom for stepping in to frost that cake! The frosting of birthday cakes always makes me sooo nervous. After all, so much can go wrong! My sister is talking to our other brother in this picture. (We'll want to remember that!)
The company arrived just as she was putting on her lovely birthday hat (thank you, Dollar Store!) and leis.
After the dinner plates were cleared, everyone got to learn the rest of the details concerning the balloon bouquet. I got the idea for this game from the Christmas Crackers that we enjoy after Christmas dinner every year....Everyone chose a balloon. Inside of each balloon were two multiple choice questions that my sister answered before the party.
Ron went first. He used the skewer that was attached to his balloon to pop it in order to get to the questions. He read the first question aloud, gave his answer, and then everyone else gave their answer to his question. My sister announced the correct answer and then we repeated the process with the second question that had been in Ron's balloon.
The game continued around the table until everyone's balloon was popped and all 14 questions were answered.
The fact that no one suspected anything and everyone really enjoyed the game may have made this part of the party my favorite!
Gift opening time...She got A LOT of stuff and I think it's safe to say she was very surprised!
My "favorite" of her gifts were the keys she got to a Benz....She didn't get to keep those, but Jay got a good laugh out of giving them to her for pretend! Apparently, turning 16 calls for a lot of gag gifts!
I have so many pictures with this exact face happening! Here she is opening a watch that my parents gave her.
In this shot, my brother pulled out his jeweler's glass to inspect the quality of the ring that my parents also gave her.
The night ended back at the dinner table where the cake came out while The Crests serenaded her with their song "Sixteen Candles". I took a video of that event so I don't have a picture of her with her cake...:( Jay did take one and it is somewhere!
Sister, you're 16 now!!! You got your license on Friday and you're picking up a truck on Saturday...HOW did that all happen so quickly!?!?!?
I love you more than you'll ever know and I'm super excited to see what God does in and with your life over these next few years!
I think 16 was my favorite and I really hope it is yours too!
If I could give you one word of advice it would be this: time is going to fly and things might not turn out how you think they should or even how you want them to. There is one thing you can be sure of, namely, the faithfulness of God! Spend this year with the aim of setting your hope in Him. You were made to worship Him and to live out that worship in front of every person around you. Set your eyes on Him and never, ever, stop looking!
Happy 16th Birthday!!!!
What a lovely party for your sister! She's blessed to have you!
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