Seventeen

Caelan's birthday began with over-risen cinnamon rolls the size of her head :) They are (cleverly) decorated with frosting 17s, just in case anyone forgot which birthday it was we were celebrating. Buck's Christmas flower bouquet added a nice pop of pretty to our birthday breakfast table, since Caelan was not demanding about birthday decorations being put up the night before. Buck and I did hang one of the birthday banners across the kitchen doorway, as per tradition. Otherwise, we kept it pretty simple this year. Oh, and her breakfast table gift was from Gabby--a stylish pair of slimline driving gloves with tech-ready fingertips. This is a good idea since neither car they drive (the Nitro and Buck's car) has working heat. She said Caelan is always warming up her hands at stop signs and lights. Good thing this has been a warm winter and not much frosting over of windshields has occurred :)



After breakfast, we packed up the van, puppy included, and headed to the theater. We were excited to discover our NGFs also purchased tickets to see the final Star Wars. And isn't it funny that our two families exactly fill up an entire row? :)







Newton thought this movie was way better than Frozen. As far as I know, he didn't even bark at anyone--unicorn or otherwise. Granted he was as far as possible away from me, and the theater was incredibly loud (why do they crank the volume, so?!). 

After the movie, Caelan invited our NGFs to her birthday restaurant of choice, and we tried out the pub's brand new woodfire pizza offerings. These pics make it look like we're in some abandoned basement, but it really is a cute place on the historic block :) Also, it was Newton's first experience in a real restaurant. He's just having lots of firsts this week!





We parents grabbed some chai and coffee (even though the shop closed seven minutes before we walked in--the poor lady looked freaked out when she saw 15 people and a dog proceed through the doors) from next door, and then Caelan invited our NGFs over to enjoy cake and gift opening! It was nice of Mr. NGF to take the whole day off to spend with us, lol :)

It was quite the largest audience ever for gift opening . . . I felt like we should have gotten Caelan more gifts to make the show last a little longer, lol :) Also, yes, at least the third, if not fourth Costco chocolate birthday cake in a row, but this one was delightfully personalized with crumbled Costco peppermint bark (which was a brilliant idea on the birthday girl's part)!

Funny t-shirts were definitely the theme of the day, with a couple of new piano books thrown in :) Caelan could play piano ALLLLL day long if there was nothing else to accomplish. But of course there was, it was birthday day! 

Buck put together a lovely-smelling crockpot of chili (which I think we ended up eating around 7 or 8 p.m. :) Our destination was the same location the kids sang for the national anthem this summer, only the parking lot. Drive through Christmas lights coordinated to music is my jam! I mean, Caelan's jam ;) She didn't really have a birthday plan, so Buck and I made one up. Overall, I think it went nicely (and Newton loved the lights too :)

I think Chauncey declared a peace treaty with the fluffy one in honor of Caelan's birthday. Here the pups are looking like BFFs ;)



I hope Caelan had as much fun celebrating her 17th birthday as the rest of us did :) We should do this birthday thing more often! Wait, no, scratch that. Seventeen seems really like a big number to me, an old teenage age. Eeek! What is going on? Hold the phone! Okay, deep breaths me. Happy birthday to my almost Christmas baby 💗