16 x 2 ... when Boys II Men give a Motownphilly birthday blessing

 Sweet 16.

What a fun age that is. 
The time you get driving on the brain... where you feel grown up because you can get a job - to obviously pay for the car where you have driving on the brain.  It's sort of the first age that sets you up to launch closer to "adulthood"

... I think I may get sick.

Because the time goes way too fast.

First Birthday

2nd Birthday

I remember being at the hospital waiting in the waiting room with everyone to hear the news that 2 little girls were born... & here we are 16 years later.  

Dont think that 16 year olds make it any easier to get a picture... the struggle is always real with these two

I dont know where they get it... I mean, I'm on the other side of the camera making faces back at them.

How cute is this cake?  Gotta love a good October birthday to have a good reason to get a cute Halloween cake!!!

The big event of the day... what happens when you turn 16?  Oprah appears & says  YOU GET A CAR ... & YOU GET A CAR...not really - but kinda.
Instead, my brother's friend pulled up in the drive way with this car for the girls.... 

Hello Land Rover.... please keep our girls safe please.

It was so funny watching them sit inside of the car & see all the new things that make those first cars so special. Like how the steering wheel feels in your hands.  How the buttons on the radio push in & the sound the of the volume fills your body. & every little nook & cranny is amazing & the best car ever. How the feel of YOUR OWN key feels in the palm of your hand as you carry it around eveywhere.

I can still remember loving my first car & it was so old & faded & beat down... but to me, it was a chariot straight from road to heaven.
I saw that same look in the girls eyes.

There was talk about how they were going to share this car so there are rules on how to keep it clean & how to take care of it.  My brother & SIL were laughing so hard at that saying they were getting food & drinks & spilling it all in their back seat & kicking the doors with dirty feet.... time for some payback. The girls didnt find one bit of humor in it.  ... the circle of life can be a little funny, can it not?

Having a super long driveway - I would guess is a half mile long, it's the perfect space to let them practice driving it.  ... & off we went.

That's Madi... freaked me out because I looked back  & at first glance, thought it was Sophia

They laughed at me that I put on my seat belt... I was taking no chances here.

I'm happy to say the first song on the radio as it was pumped up was Motownphilly by Boys II Men... doing a little east coast fling... It has been blessed with 80's music.

So now, the girls are on a mission to get that OFFICIAL drivers license. They never really had any motivation before... but now? They've had the taste of pedals under their feet & leather steering wheels in their hands & the shift of gears under they body.... They'll be on the move soon enough...

& I'm going to be praying even harder... whew... I'm a nervous aunt - what can I say.

To end this - I'm just going to let you see the view from my brother's front porch.... is anything more beautiful than this country living in the fall?

...& because here's my dad with the girls on their firsr birthday...

He would be the most excited for them to have a car ... he'd make them his official chauffer