Elizabeth's 14th Birthday

My niece Elizabeth turned 14 on December 27. Wow… 14! It's hard to believe. A benefit of Elizabeth having a birthday so close to Christmas is that we always get to celebrate her birthday together since her family almost always visits for Christmas. I really treasure the time that I get to spend with my nieces and nephews since I don't see them as often as I'd like. It's always special when we're actually together WITH family on birthdays or holidays.

In the morning Sharon's family went to the Butterfly House. My mom and I didn't tag along on this adventure, so I sent my camera with my sister so that I could at least be a part of the fun via pictures.

They also played on the playground equipment and also went to the big indoor carousel that is right by the Butterfly House. Rides are only $2, which isn't too bad.

We had dinner later that afternoon. Elizabeth wanted pulled pork enchiladas. I've never had enchiladas made with pulled pork before, and I really liked them. Elizabeth wanted blackberry cobbler with snickerdoodle ice cream for dessert. That was an interesting choice for a birthday dessert, if you ask me! When my mom went to the store she couldn't find snickerdoodle ice cream, and saw that two boxes of blackberries cost nearly $20, so she called Elizabeth and they decided to do a mixed berry cobbler with French vanilla ice cream instead. Cobbler isn't my idea of a good dessert, especially for something as special as a birthday. My philosophy is that if a dessert has fruit in it, it's not a dessert! Hold the berries and give me some chocolate!! ;)

Elizabeth opened her presents after dinner. Between Christmas and her birthday, Elizabeth got everything she wanted. Getting everything you want is doable when you have requests as modest as Elizabeth's were! After the little kids were in bed, we watched Catching Fire to prepare ourselves for seeing Mockingjay part 1, a few days later.

The beautiful birthday girl: