Sixteen

Last Saturday, my beautiful daughter turned 16 years old. It's been such a joy to watch this girl blossom. She is wise beyond her years. She's smart as a whip, quick-witted, and oh so talented. She puts me to shame when it comes to art. Almost every free moment she has is devoted to sketching, painting, playing the piano, or strumming the ukulele (her new obsession). On a side note, she received the ukulele for Christmas, and by sunset, she was strumming out familiar tunes. She'd never played a string instrument before. It's kind of annoying how she makes us all look talentless. ;)

Audrie loves words and word play and continues to challenge me almost daily with some sort of game involving rhymes, or haikus, or synonyms, or riddles. And I love every minute of it. She is super sweet, and good big sister (most of the time), and just a delight to be around. I don't like to think about how in two and a half years, she'll be leaving this nest. I'm not ready for our family dynamic to change. So, until then, I'm going to cherish this time we have while our nest is full, and continue to remind her of all of the great colleges we have just right down the street.

Happy birthday, sweet girl.

I love you so.

xo

Mom