Reese is 15!

Reese had a great birthday, this year. There was a lot of anxiety and sadness leading up to the day. She kept remembering the way her special day last year tuned into a nightmare of standing in the street watching her house burn. This year, she had a few requests, waffles and a huge party. She was adamant that we celebrate fire day and all that we’ve recovered from AND have a Quinceañera. Scheduling around finals week and the holidays was tricky, this year.  Since the NYE dance is right around the corner, we opted to scale down from a dance/DJ and just do a big gathering with games, food, and a bonfire.  And even though a lot of her people couldn’t come because they were traveling or had family in town, she still ended up with 18 high schoolers congregated for fun and feasting. 

On the morning of Reese’s Birthday, I got up crazy early and made lussekatter buns (cinnamon instead of saffron) and dressed up like Saint Lucia.  Reese woke up to the lullaby of Sankta Lucia and breakfast in bed. Sainf Lucy’s day is traditionally celebrated on Dec, but we bumped our celebration of light to Dec 14, because Reese is truly a light to the world. She has a charitable heart and a force for good.  After the most difficult year, she still shines and radiates love and light to everyone around. 




The day of Reese continued with picking up get bestie, Finley S to join the fun. A smoothie date, shopping, lunch at Big Orange (Dad, Quincy, Corbin, and Soren joined in, too!), then the girls went to see Jumanji 2. The day rounded out at home with presents, ice cream sundaes, and games. 

Reese was thrilled that Grandma and Grandpa found the Reese’s advent calendar they’d bought her the day after  Christmas, so she could open all the tiny doors up all at once 😂


Her party was a success with a waffle bar, MarioKart, games, ping pong, foosball, the “salad bowl game”, and a bonfire that got big enough to make me pretty nervous.  The kids played horse and corn hole and did teenager things like dance along and lipsync to music, toss a football around, and do backflips off the picnic table. Reese was surrounded by great kids and had a fun night.