M is 15

M is 15. 

I know. 

I can't believe it either. 

She is coming into her own. She is a sponge who soaks up everything around her. She is becoming an accomplished pianist who plays by ear and reads music. She can hear any piece and tell you what key it is in. She takes ownership of her own learning and has decided she wants to be fluent in ASL. (My Sister is an interpreter for the deaf and has been teaching her. Thank you!) M is creative and loves all things make up, hair, and nails and views it as art. She is chatty and gives me an earful whenever she comes home from school or being with friends. I am often pleasantly surprised (and deeply relieved) as she processes the interactions around her. She loves spending time with her Dad watching movies and silly videos. M, we love you so much and are eternally grateful your Birth Mom chose us, because we would never want to miss out on life with you. 

Grammy and Grampy invited us to dinner to celebrate our beautiful girl. We enjoyed walking through the yard. Grammy is so good at gardening and and celebrating milestones. Thank you!

J giving me his sweetest smile because he did not realize I was taking a picture.

Pure, wonderful silliness.

For her birthday activity, M had the opportunity to ride horses, which is something she has been wanting to try for a long time. Steve and the older three kids went on the horseback riding adventure together. They reported it was mostly awesome. There was only one moment that got a little dicey when two of the horses hooves clicked together and one of them bolted 20 feet, but otherwise it was a lovely jaunt through the mountain foothills. 

Unfortunately, it was insanely hot. M passes out when she gets too hot. So by the time she returned to the stables, it was touch and go on the passing out thing and took about 20 minutes to cool off before she was feeling better. Totally worth it though. 

C and I meandered through This is the Place while we were waiting for them and I got to throw an ax for the first time. Shocker of all shockers I stuck it in the target the first time. I cheered, but C lost it. He was cheering, arms in the air, screaming and saying "Yes Mom! You did it! That is awesome! Woohoo!" That little boy makes me feel like a winner. 

For M's birthday dinner she wanted Vietnamese food and Costco cake. Yum, yum, yum. Happy birthday M! We love you!