My Baby Girl Is Officially A Teenager!

Can it be?  How is it possible that Abby is officially a teenager?  I hate to always say the old cliches, "Where has the time gone?" or "Time flies!", but is the only thing that comes to mind when I think about Abby turning 13.

Needless to say, Abby was very excited about her birthday. She started emailing birthday lists to us months before her birthday. She wanted to make sure we knew what she wanted for her birthday.  That, and she loves email!

As soon as she woke up in the morning, she asked to open presents.  Ummm...I wasn't quite ready...  (I was working on the birthday cake!)  She didn't like having to wait.

One of Abby's birthday wishes was to go to Frank & Lola's for lunch.  Her birthday wish is our command!  Can't turn that one down! 

(Disregard the crummy pictures.  I took them with my iPod in a room with strange light.)

One of Abby's birthday wishes was to go to Frank & Lola's for lunch.  Her birthday wish is our command!  Can't turn that one down!  While we waited for an available table, I asked Abby to let me take a picture of the two of us. This is what I came away with.  That stinker!

She finally, reluctantly, let Jon take a picture of her with her delicious birthday lunch.

It was finally time to open presents! 

I don't think she was disappointed when she opened her presents!  Well...except for the fact that the thing she wanted most was a Facebook account.  I just couldn't convince dear old Dad.  Yes, she was disappointed about that...

Time for cake!
Yep, we skipped dinner.  We ate a big lunch late in the day, that Abby's wasn't even hungry for the birthday dinner she requested.    However, there's always room for birthday cake and ice cream!

Abby's request for her cake was chocolate cake with chocolate frosting with coconut, but she wanted sprinkles like Luke's cake had.  This is what I like to call "the best of both worlds."  (:  She was very pleased with how it turned out!

"Happy  Birthday To You!"

Pure delicious-ness!!

I got another one of those texts, again, asking if we would like two tickets to the OK Mozart concert on Saturday night.  And, like I said before, you just can't turn them down.  Especially the grand finale concert! I would go to every concert if I could.  This time, I thought Abby would enjoy going to the concert with either me or Jon for her birthday.

YAY!! I got to go!

This concert did not disappoint!  It was...awesome!  I am so thankful Abby and I were able to go together on such a special day!

All day, I continued to hear things like this:

"I really thought I would get a Facebook for my birthday."

"It's not fair that Ben got Facebook for his 13th birthday, but I don't."

"Ben ruined it for me to get Facebook."

It is safe to say that Abby was genuinely disappointed.  I felt terrible!  I am positive that Jon didn't feel nearly as bad as I did.  However, I may have guilted him into one last gift for Abby to open after  we got home from the concert.

Abby finally got her very own Facebook account and she couldn't be happier about it!

I couldn't resist posting these pictures of Abby and Luke.  Look how precious they are!  Sadly, Luke doesn't treat Abby very well.  I don't know why and it makes me sad.  Abby loves Luke to pieces!  She is so sweet to him.  Well, I don't know if it was because it was her birthday or he was feeling especially nice that day, but when Abby asked Luke to take a picture with her, he was very cooperative.  He made Abby a very happy girl!  They are so adorable!

Abigail, I hope you had a very special day for your 13th birthday!  I honestly can't believe that you are officially a teenager.  You will always be my baby girl. I am so proud of the young lady you are.  It makes me so proud to walk into your room and see the Bible verses all over your wall.  Remember how much Jesus loves you and he made you perfectly!  You are growing so much in your clarinet playing.  Keep up the hard work and you will do amazing things with that instrument.  I love you so much, Baby Girl!  Welcome to your teenage years!

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
Psalm 139:14

OK Mozart ~ Woolaroc Concert

OK Mozart week is one of my favorite weeks of the year.  I love that my community supports and promotes the arts.  I have never lived anywhere that offered so much.  During OK Mozart week, you can see as much as you want to see and many of the events are free and open to the public.

This year, I was so disappointed when I discovered that we were going to be out of town for the first half of the week.  I was just glad to know that we would be back in town in time to go to the Woolaroc concert.  What was even better was that by Ben and Abby participating in the OK Mozart Master Class earlier in the week, they each received two free tickets to this amazing concert.  Score!

One of my favorite things about this concert is deciding what to make for our picnic dinner.  (For this concert, you come really early, bring your dinner and hang out.)  This year we had a super yummy Italian sub, Caesar salad, chips and dip, strawberries and brownies.  YUM!  I am a firm believer that everything tastes better when you get to eat it outside!  (:

 Ben's friend, Mario, found us.  Maybe I should have had him take the picture...

This concert was amazing!  The music in the first half was movie tunes by John Williams: Star Wars, Star Trek, Harry Potter, The Terminal.  For the second half we heard a lot of patriotic music.  It was spectacular!  

I am already looking forward to next year!

OK Mozart Week

We have lived in Bartlesville for four years now, and this is the first time that we have participated in any of the OK Mozart events.  I can't believe what we have been missing out on! 

OK Mozart is a week long celebration of music.  There are events going on in several locations throughout the city.  Some are free, some are not.  Some are for kids, some are for adults and some are for the whole family to enjoy.  The variety of music during the week is fairly broad.  There is something for everyone!  (Well, maybe not the heavy metal lover...)

A friend gave Jon and I some tickets to a concert since her and her husband were going to be out of town and unable to attend the concert.  I had no idea who was performing, but was excited to see what this OK Mozart thing was all about.

We were thrilled to be able to see Esperanza Spaulding, Gerri Allen and Terri Lyne Carrington.  WOW!!  What a concert!

There were little mini-concerts for the kiddos each day and I figured we couldn't pass up the opportunity.  (Of course, I'm always a fan of free fun!)  So, we went to as many of these as we could!

This is a group called Claptet.  I really wish Ben had come with us.  He would have loved it!  Luke lost interest really fast, but the group was great!

The Three Little Pigs opera.

This was part of the family series.  The Amici Brass Quintet.  Ben was in love!

 All God's Critter's with local storyteller Fran Stallings.

On Friday (Abby's birthday)  Ben and Abby participated in a music workshop with some of the Amici Orchestra musicians.  Such a great opportunity!  As part of the price of the workshop, Ben and Abby each received two tickets to a concert.  I was thrilled that we would be able to go to the outdoor concert at Woolaroc.  I have heard what a great concert this is, but have never been.  I wondered if Abby would be ok with spending her birthday listening to music at Woolaroc.  Thankfully that was ok with her!

We have been told to pack up our dinner and take it out to Woolaroc.  Being as though it was Abby's birthday, we didn't do that, but we did take some snacks.  It was perfect!

 We ended up finding lots of friends to sit with.  Again,  it was perfect!

Jon, Ben, Abby and I loved every minute of this amazing night!

Thankfully, a dear, sweet friend kept Luke for us.  I'm sure the night would have been a lot different with him there! 
THANK YOU, HEATHER!!

 I am so happy that we were able to take part in so many of the week's activities!  We are all really looking forward to next year!  We will not be missing out on OK Mozart again!