I really didn’t mean to gloss over Morgan turning 14 on June 29th.  I just needed a stretch of time to write about it and give it the effort it deserves!  She and her bestie, Emma, many months ago spent multiple hours doing research and putting together a powerpoint presentation to us (the parents).  They were hoping to give the presentation only once but with 4 busy parents, that didn’t work out.  I was their first client.  They were absolutely adorable and the purpose of the presentation was to ask permission to travel out of town to see a Justin Bieber concert.  They had researched flights and proposed costs…it was pretty impressive.  Now if they could just put this amount of effort into their actual school work – we’d be in business!  At the end of the day, we agreed to it and the dad’s are taking the girls to Denver in a few weeks.  Part of the deal was an agreement to forgo a birthday party.  Well, since I’m not part of the Bieber trip, there was no way I was not going to celebrate my baby girl turning 14!  Thus, a Pineapple birthday Party was thrown.

Much to my sister’s dismay, in my usual trip to Target, I passed by these pineapple cards and I couldn’t get them out of my head.  Unfortunately, they are produced by American Greetings.  Since my sister is an executive at Hallmark and I worked there for years, it really is not cool to buy a competitors product.  We sort of have a rule against it.  Sorry Shauna & Hallmark, I had to buy them because I LOVE these pineapples!  It just takes one small thing for me to be inspired…and this was it!My usual team of party helpers was not accessible this time around, so I spent a lot of late nights pulling this party together for my girl.  Reece was keeping tabs on me often and making lists and checking them off – I love it!!  I did have some great painters!  Morgan ended up staying up super late painting pineapples…aren’t they super cool!?You have no idea how many looks and comments I got when I had an entire grocery cart full of pineapples!  I was making a palm tree too – so I needed a lot!  Pineapples along with a few parts from Home Depot…and voilà…a palm tree centerpiece!On her actual birthday, she had to get up early to get to swim practice (ugh!) and swim in a meet the evening of her bday (double ugh!).  So we tried to squeeze in some fun in between!  Reece was so sweet and was planning to serve Morgan breakfast in bed.  She prepared this all by herself – cereal and mini muffins from the pantry.  She set it on her desk so she would get it as soon as she woke up…precious!And we brought her a Starbucks frappaccino – she loves those things because they don’t contain caffeine and it’s basically a chocolate shake.  This girl loves chocolate!Aunt Jenn brought over these famous donuts (she waited for a really long time to get these from a food truck making an appearance in KC!)  Aren’t they beautiful!?

We also made it to the movies!By late afternoon we had to be at the swim meet…so glad we didn’t skip this because her butterfly time qualified her for the All-City Championships!

And a post-meet late dinner out at Jose Peppers – she LOVES Mexican food!She was also leading a group of kindergartners in Vacation Bible School this week.  Yikes – this really is sounding bad isn’t it!?  Can we say – ‘over-scheduled!?’ Actually, it’s just making Morgan seem extra amazing that she can manage all of this!  Let’s go with that!The next day in the midst of the state baseball tourney, I was bound and determined to throw this pineapple party.  So minus Brian and Jake, the party went on anyway and friends and family joined us when they could.

This party was so bright and fun…I had a blast decorating!  Honestly, I could tinker around with this kind of crafty stuff all day.  I had to rely on Morgan to take pictures and Scott to be my drink bucket filler…thanks you guys!!  MoMo, sorry you had to take pictures of your own party!

We served all of her favorite foods…walking tacos, cheese dip, guacamole, potato chips and ranch dip.  You know…a bunch of healthy stuff because that’s what teens love! 😉

I love you to pieces Morgan…happy 14th birthday!  I hope you loved your party!

In my spare time, I did manage to pull a video together of pictures and memories from the last year of MoMo’s teenage life.  It includes some music she enjoys (JB, of course!) and I hope to be able to share a link soon…stay tuned!