Emma's 12 years old !

I have lots of photos to edit & share :)

It's fabulous !

But, for today, I wanted to skip ahead of what I was actually planning and write a post about one evening in particular when I was visiting my family over the weekend.

When my Mom found out that I would be coming home for President's Day weekend, she quickly moved some things around and planned my sister Emma's birthday for Sunday night.

I'm sure it made Amy mad - because I have missed HER birthday 3 years in a row now, and somehow I always seem to make it home for everyone else's.

But, I don't think it phased her too much:

Anyways, it was perfect because I was able to visit with my family altogether.

If you know anything about traveling somewhere where you have lots of friends and family to visit - you know it can be super hard.

If you don't know anything about traveling somewhere where you have lots of friends and family to visit, let me enlighten you: it can be super hard.

Normally, you have a tight schedule, and you have a long list of people you want to see. And somehow, you have to fit that long list of people into your tight schedule.

We'll just leave it at: it can be super hard :)

So, bringing family together for something like a birthday party is ideal.

And wonderful.

And a huge burden lifted.

Because, believe me, I want to see that whole list of people, and when it doesn't work out, I feel really bad.

So, we had Emma' birthday party Sunday night.

But her actual birthday is TODAY.

She has turned the big 1-2.

And next year, oh boy, my parent's are going to have a big year next year :) Amy will be turning 16 and Emma will be turning 13 and Stephen will be turning 10 !! Meaning: permit to drive, teenager, and double-digits - all in the same year!

YIKES.

But let's get over this year first, shall we?

Abby decided that Emma needed some help opening her gifts. Maybe she was thinking there were some treats hidden in there for her?

Probably not, more than likely she just knew where everyone was giving their attention and she wanted in on the spotlight :D

Speaking of Abby, she was my traveling buddy last weekend.

And she was great, for the most part :)

After we got over the barfing in the car and initial meeting of her & Susie & Buster, things went pretty smooth.

And she LOVED all the attention she got from my family.

  

Anyways, back to the birthday girl.

We got through the presents and then brought out the cake.

She has made plans to re-decorate her room in all ocean stuff - thus the ocean cake.

[And apparently, Ruby thought that there were wayy too many candles and that the cake was going to light on fire or something]

I don't mind bragging a bit here and saying that my sister is the best artist around.

She's super creative. And the walls of her room are filled with her drawings and paintings. She's a FABULOUS painter.

And, I think a lot of kids go through this phase where they want to be an artist - okay maybe that was only me? But, she has really taken that dream and run with it, taking art classes and daily perfecting her work.

She's really wonderful and amazing for a 12 year old. And I can't wait to see what she does in the years to come !!

Alrighty, and one more - because I love it.

My father - playing around with my doggie.

Doing the "stick em up" pose :D