Sweet 16

     A big birthday is upon the Apedaile6 house this week! Lindsay celebrated her 16th Birthday yesterday. It was really nice to have the entire family in town to be part of the festivities.

While Lindsay was at school, John, Sarah, and I decorated the house with streamers, balloons, and Happy Birthday signs. Walking into the festive house brought a big smile to Lindsay's face.

In keeping with our family tradition, the birthday girl had her choice of where we went to dinner. Lindsay chose La Loma, a local Mexican restaurant.

 After we returned home from dinner, it was present time!

 Aunt Cathy and Nanny sent their present in this cute kitty card.

 Forever 21 gift card! Lindsay's favorite store. I'm sure a trip to the mall will be on the agenda soon.

 Not a plain piece of paper, but a drawing of a cake with a "16" JT drew for Lindsay.

 Sarah also made a homemade card to go along with her gift.

 Spunky Lindsay flinging the tissue paper in the air as she opened her gift.

 A new scarf!!!

 Time for opening the present from John and I.

 John wrapped the present and as always keeps the gift well disguised.

 Golf balls! Just want she wanted ;)

 Not actually, the box contained this shirt. My well rounded, intelligent daughter loves the show Swamp People, and in particular this guy who says this signature quote. Lindsay was excited to see this shirt.

 This is when my photography skills started to tank. John and I like to do larger gifts for the "big" birthdays. I wanted to snap some pictures and also watch live.

 The initial reveal and reaction. 

 Despite chopping off half of her face, I'd say this is one excited young lady.

 An iPad mini!!!!

 John decided Lindsay needed some birthday spanks afterward and her little brother came to her defense. "Stop spanking my sister!" Followed up by tackling and pushing John out of the way.

 The birthday cupcakes from Gigi's! Yum. 5 different varieties for us to share.

 Happy Birthday to you.... Happy Birthday to you...

May your wish come true Lindsay. 

Happy Birthday!!!

Antics of a 4 year old

     JT is getting into the prime childhood age where random thoughts and observations that will perplex, embarrass, or crack us up. I may need to keep a record of some of his ramblings to share on a regular basis and preserve for memory sake. There were 2 notables from this weekend I wanted to share.

Chilly weather has arrived and JT was wearing some thermal underwear as PJ's. Shortly after putting them on, he ran up to me with much excitement. JT said to me, "Mommy, look! These jammies have a pocket in them!" (the little boy "flap" in the front)

The next came during JT's regular bedtime reading. John was reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar and was prompting JT to count and name the items the caterpillar was eating. We came to this page and JT named that the caterpillar ate a slice of cheese. John asked him what kind of cheese is that and JT replied, "That's yucky cheese." Ha ha ha! He did also say it was mouse cheese, but clearly not a variety he wanted to eat himself. 

Volleyball banquet

     Courtney's first season as a high school athlete has come to an end. She had a fun, yet tough, freshman year on the JV volleyball team. We celebrated all of the Lady Bucs at a banquet recently.

The night started off with a photo booth area.

 Freshman girls.

The entire JV volleyball team and Coach(top left).

The 2 Courtney's. They are just called by their last names by their teammates.

Courtney being one of the shorter members on the team-who also wore flats- stood far below most of her friends.

Courtney and Britta. They have been friends since we first moved to Tennessee and teammates for 3 years.

Taylor and Courtney having some fun with the props in the photo booth.

JV team having fun.

A like minded girl who wore flats ;)

JT got in on the action of being among beautiful young ladies.

Ladies man.

Trying to fit in with the older crowd.

I mustache you, "Do I look adorable?"

After the all the photos had been taken, we moved on to JT's favorite part. The dessert themed food table. He was in heaven and honestly had to be reigned in a bit. The coaches all spoke highly of our awesome daughters and also had a video montage. Though I didn't record it, just imagine a 4 year old boy loudly singing along to the background music of Katy Perry's "Roar". I know some of his "performance" ended up on some of the players Instagram accounts. Priceless parenting moment.

Shortly after his stellar performance and sugar crash, JT crashed on my lap for the remainder of the banquet.

Courtney was presented with her Freshman Athletic Award.

Courtney's school sports photo.

The JV team photo.

     Though the season is finished, the team is still doing post season conditioning during their usual practice time during school. We will also be starting club ball this coming January like we did last year. I've discovered that high school sports is no joke and much training and preparation is necessary just about all year long. Looking forward to how Courtney and her team will continue to grow next season.

Letter H

     Continuing along the alphabet, on to letter H. Every Friday the kids know its the day to make our letter of the week art. It helps keep me on track and not drop this activity due to being "too busy".

We started off gluing some shoes on the bottom of our H's.

Mason looking for the perfect placement of his tail.

Ella gluing her mane.

 Any guesses what we are making?

A horse of course!

JT drawing the eyes and mouth.

Ella and Mason's horses.

JT's happy horse. It makes me grin that everything has a front face profile on his animals.