A special day...

I can't quite believe it but I am the mother of a teenager! Yes, that's right. My gorgeous girl had a birthday last week and turned 13. There was lots of excitement in the air on the lead up to Emily's special day and some mixed emotions too. She was excited about having a birthday but wasn't quite sure if she wanted to be a teenager just yet. I can relate, I wasn't quite ready for my girl to take this next step either (just quietly).

The night before her big day arrived and as per tradition in our little family, I got busy decorating her room for her special day. To make things easier for me we popped her into our bed and got busy decorating her room. There was no way she would have been able to sleep through my noise!

We started by putting in some hooks and lengths of white rope across her ceiling. To this I added some paper lanterns and lots of balloons. It was fun and I think her room looked great.

After hanging all the balloons and lanterns, I made some large number 13's from different coloured cardboard and hung them around her room as well.

Here is one on her bed head. Our cat Bella made himself at home. He didn't mind the fuss at all!

After the decorations were complete, I popped her wrapped presents at the end of her bed. It was then time to bring sleeping beauty back into her room so that she could wake in her newly decorated room on her birthday.

We all woke bright and early on the morning of Emily's birthday! We were all excited to share her day and watch her open her presents. After a quick squishy Daddy/brother hug, we all headed to her room to watch her open her gifts.

It was also Emily's blythe doll Gypsy's birthday as well, so she celebrated with us too!

The present opening began, and the smile on Emily's face made her day so special for us too! She loved everything we chose for her which is wonderful. 

Here she is with some of her gifts...

This is not a headless doll, in case you were wondering! It is a Licca body which can replace a Blythe doll body. It is more bendable and lots of Blythe collectors pop Licca bodies onto their Blythe dolls. Emily was VERY excited to receive a Licca body from her brother.

We also bought Emily a gorgeous outfit from a lovely business called Sweet Birdie Blue. Emily LOVED the skirt so much, she said it was her most favourite skirt EVER. Yay!!

We also made the BIG decision that this would be the year we give Emily her very own mobile. She is a very responsible and honest girl and we knew she would love one of her own. She didn't have any idea we were giving her one, so was VERY excited. 

Here is Emily's Blythe doll, Gypsy, all dressed up in some of Emily's presents. I think she looks gorgeous!

I let my kiddies have a day at home with me for Emily's birthday and even though I had to teach my ladies, we had a lovely day together. We did some Op shopping in the afternoon and were very excited to find a great dolls house for Emily. You can read about it on my last Thrifty Thursday post here.

Here is Emily outside the Op shop spinning around in her new outfit. I think she likes it!!

Emily then requested Carrot Cake for her birthday cake, so I quickly whipped one together to share after dinner. We sang happy birthday and shared cake together. It was a lovely way to end her day.

At the end of the day we tucked a tired but very happy 13 year old into bed. She happily proclaimed that she had a wonderful birthday - and I was one happy Mummy. I am looking forward to what the future holds for our girl too.

Emily has blogged all about her birthday on her blog, if you would like to read about her birthday in her words, pop over here... Back soon to share LOTS more. I have a lot to blog about. x Janelle