ms. aspen is the big 1-3

Hard to believe this girl is now 13! I met her when she was 6 years old, so I have known her for over half her life. It is truly insane to think about how much she has grown and changed - physically and in personality. She is now a teenager, and I hope that she enjoys her teen years to the fullest...

She had a pretty darn good birthday, I do think...she and her best friend Bailey went to Mimi's beauty school with her bright and early this morning for a day of beauty: manicures, pedicures, facials...it's always nice to have a little pampering!

And instead of the normal Mr. Gattis, she chose to have her birthday dinner at Red Lobster...that was a fine choice with all of us!! Delicious!! I had the lobster pizza appetizer and it was probably the best thing I have ever had there. MMMMM. Aspen enjoyed her shrimp and we all left feeling plump and satisfied...

And onto home, where we had gifts and chocolate cake...

The birthday girl with her favorite person: her daddy...

And with me...

Her gift from my mom "Mawmaw"...she sent her a 3-book set of Percy Jackson books, and before Aspen opened the box she said excitedly, "Oh, I hope it's a book!!" Words I honestly never expected to hear uttered from her mouth. Hopefully she will enjoy this series as much as Harry Potter and Twilight...

Aspen's big gift this year was her iTouch. For those who might not be up on technology, the iTouch is an iPod that is almost exactly like the iPhone...it just doesn't make phone calls. It has a touch screen and does some pretty cool stuff in addition to playing music. And in true Aspen fashion, this post wouldn't be complete without the over-the-top excitement sequence...wait for it...wait for it...

She's one happy girl indeed...she received a few other nice gifts too like a cute pajama set, lots of good smelling lotions, an iTunes card...and, yes, now that she is 13, she also got MAKEUP...we'll be having a little training session on that soon!!!

Her cake was very cute with the lime green icing...such a fabulous color!

Our Aspen is growing up...and it's crazy how quickly. We'll blink and these years will be over. I hope that she makes the most of them...love you Aspen...Happy Birthday!