sixteen was very sweet

the teen actually celebrated a full birthday week - i wonder where she got that from?  heh.

when we got home from hanging out with plastic celebs at madame tussaud's, it was a race to get the house cleaned and groceries bought for that evening's BBQ.  because i am a glutton for punishment, we planned yet another gathering only hours after wrapping up the last one.  yup.

so while the hub went to costco for supplies, i stayed at home with the girls to dust, vacuum, and bust out a batch of birthday cupcakes.  and maybe some chocolate chip cookies, too.

i liked the flowers he brought back, along with all the grub.

everybody had a lovely time, and the teen smiled awkwardly and blew out the candles as we all sang to her.

we capped off the evening with something that made us all decide to plan a camping trip this summer:

and then on her actual birthday several days later, the bean and i brought her some yummy lunch and these:

except that they're not allowed to have stuff like this anymore.  balloons and flowers and other fun stuff gets confined to the office until the end of the day.  WTF?  that's the whole point - to sashay around campus, turning heads and eliciting envious looks from everyone else.  they sure didn't make you leave it behind when i was in high school.  of course, that was a bazillion years ago.  hell, we barely had computers back then.  psh.

she was loaded down with all sorts of goodies from her friends when she finally got to the car to collect her birthday lunch.

after school, she drove us home.  in the back seat, rock-ell and the bean and i were surrounded by even more balloons.  there was so much helium-filled latex in there, i couldn't breathe.

we spread everything out in the dining room.  quite the haul, wouldn't you say?

at school, she accidentally dropped this cake made so lovingly by one of her friends, and it narrowly escaped being smashed to smithereens.  oops.

then like in years past, we made the trek out to the valley for some delicious grub at chi chi's, an old favorite for pasta and pizza.  because she's family by now, rock-ell joined us (as did brother wan).

we had her open a few presents - clothes from forever 21 and the latest glee soundtrack CD.

she's kinda creepy sometimes.

of course, we had a "big" present for her, too.  i'd already clued rock-ell in as to what it was, and when she took the bean to go potty, she suggested we slip it underneath the teen's jacket.  and when she got back and scooched back into place, her fingers found it immediately.

and she was stoked.  hello, 32GB white iPhone!

note:  i actually got one too, only because the hub decided now was the right time to move us out of at&t and combine all of our plans with verizon.  whee!

we capped off our night with a stop at the brick-and-mortar shop of get shaved, our very favorite food truck of all time.  i'd found out that it was really close to chi chi's, and it made for a lovely dessert.

the girls were quite enamored by the guy working inside.  i had to admit, he was a cutie.  and he was extra sweet to both of them, especially after hearing that it was the teen's birthday.

a pretty sweet sixteenth, wouldn't you say?