Seventeen

The day before MK's birthday, the Fab [Four] snuck over when MK was at soccer practice and decorated her room (and cleaned it up, so you could tell it was decorated, haha).

Then they asked permission to climb her balcony and surprise her at midnight with some friends.

I put a ladder out there, bought "all you can stuff in a box" donuts and kept the kids mum. Around midnight I heard a loud chorus of the "Happy Birthday" song outside her balcony door, and then they tackled her in her bed. The 5 PG boys, the Sexy Six, and some others totaling about 20. Kim took three pictures, and this was the best one :/ The other two were of a cup of milk and of Sara's head.

MK told me with a grin, "Ya, I have some dece friends."

Rob was in Chicago, and MK didn't want to wait for me to round up the kids, so she opened her presents (clothes she picked out and gas money) with me and Cy.

She couldn't commit for sure to the pool party our Home Teacher offered, so I was left on stand-by. "Mom, teenagers don't make plans."

This is when they decided to dress up for the end-of-year black light dance at school that night. I heard them come in sometime around midnight with more friends, and then some more comings and goings until they fell asleep sometime after 3:30 a.m., when I lost consciousness for good. (She took full advantage of my unusual leniency on her birthday.)

Ten Things I Love About MK:
1. She makes people feel important
2. She has crazy energy, a contagious laugh, and makes anything fun
3. She only likes boys who are active, smart, fun, and have a plan for their life
4. She trains hard for soccer
5. She pushes herself at school and stays on top of her grades
6. She has broken us in gently on the teen frontier
7. She takes initiative and runs her own life
8. She and Mia are best buds (but are currently feuding over sharing clothes)
9. She's been driving for a full year now with zero tickets, crashes, or incidents (knock on wood)
10. Even though she can't keep her curfew to save her life, I never worry that she's up to no good
Love you, Girl!

P.S. You know, I hate to brag on her and stuff, but when things go well or when you're proud of your kids, you've got to celebrate it, because sooner or later things have a way of falling apart, and you might forget that life was ever so sweet. So, thanks MK, for this sweet patch of life.