Today was Jessie’s 14th birthday, one she wasn’t so sure she wanted to celebrate, a day with some challenges, but a day that was enjoyable and full of celebration. We started with an early morning hair session with Brittany.

Then Kelly showed Jessie the flower cupcakes that she made for her birthday.

We proceeded to Jessie opening presents! The first was from the little kids, with a special card that Mia made for Jessie.

Along with presents from the rest of the family and a new watch from Mom and Dad.

During the day the girls went out and spent more time playing out in the snow!

This evening Kelly’s parents came over and we ate the flower cupcakes with ice cream. I just put this one in because it is so rare to get a picture of Jacob!

Kelly lit the candles and then we had to talk Jessie into blowing them out!

Then we enjoyed the birthday dessert!

There were a few rough spots today. After presents this morning, Jessie started crying a little and wanted to call her China Mom. We agreed and while she started crying a lot at first, the conversation went fairly well with periods of laughter. In addition, Riley was able to talk to her China Mom at the same time.

Later in the day Leah had a little run in with our dog, Hershey. Leah has become more and more brave with the dog, and today she went a little too far. No one is sure if she scared Hershey or if she hurt her accidentally, but Hershey snapped at her. That was all it took to re-instill the fear of the dog in her and, to some degree, the other girls. Leah cried for about an hour and the girls spent the evening jumping away from Hershey!

In the end, though, it was a good day and a nice way to celebrate Jessie’s birthday! Tomorrow we have several girls going in for ultrasounds with some additional doctors appointments on Friday. This weekend begins basketball season, so things will continue to be busy!

Cameron