Delayed 15

MK has been 15 for almost 6 weeks and we celebrated almost 2 months ago. Life has been busy and we haven’t gotten around to her annual birthday questions….until now! MK had a Golden Celebration as it was her “golden” birthday (turn the age of the date of your birthday). It was all gold and black. She wore gold and her friends all wore black. 

quick update on MK’s life at 15
- still dancing and is usually at the studio 6 days per week. 
- is a 9th grader at a performing arts magnet school for… Dance
- she is still in Girl Scouts and kicking butt at that with her troop of Keira and Ella. They are great role models and doing some amazing things
- she is taking 2 virtual classes in addition to her in person classes
- still slow as molasses at life and does things in her own time
- MS was a struggle but in HS she is finding her groove. 

















Now on to birthday questions

What is your favorite color?  Red
what is your favorite toy? My phone
What is your favorite fruit? Pineapple or mango
what is your favorite TV show? The Mandela Catalog
What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Turkey sandwich with Colby jack, mayo, mustard, pickles on potatoe bread
What is your favorite games? Minecraft or candy crush
What is your favorite thing to wear? Black ripped jeans
what is your favorite snack? Gummy worms
what is your favorite animal? Octopus
what is your favorite song? Safe Word by TV Girl
favorite book? A Good Girl’s guide to murder
 best friend? Megan, Andrew, Keira
eat for breakfast? Cereal
thing to do outside? Skate or go on walks
favorite drink? Milkshake 
favorite holiday? Halloween
take to bed with with you? My glasses and blanket
what do you want to be when you grow up? Marine biologist 
where is your favorite place to go? Anywhere but school or dance
What is something Mommy always says? Stop biting me
What is something Daddy always says? Be responsible or what the dog doin
What's your favorite thing about 9th grade? That i get to dance everyday
Anything else you want people to know? I’ve driven like twice; no 3 times. I think I’m going to finish the quarter with all As and high Bs

Double dose age 13 and 14

I never published last year's questions so this year is a double take. What a year it has been! 




age 13
Madelyn is officially a teenager! She's been acting like it for months! 


What is your favorite color? Grey
what is your favorite toy? my phone
What is your favorite fruit? pineapple
what is your favorite TV show? Kakedurui 
What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? mozzarella sticks 
What is your favorite games? mine craft
What is your favorite thing to wear? sweaters/hoodies
what is your favorite snack? ritz crackers
what is your favorite animal? penguin or chinchilla
what is your favorite song? 4 AM
favorite book? Ichor 
 best friend? Keira, Kate, Ali, Mia, Mahli, Sofia, Alessandra and Derek
eat for breakfast? poptarts and tea
thing to do outside? go biking
favorite drink? Peace tea 
favorite holiday? Halloween
take to bed with with you? 10 thousand pillows and music
what do you want to be when you grow up?  journalist 
where is your favorite place to go? dance competitions or Disney
What is something Mommy always says? get off your phone
What is something Daddy always says? I'm not trying to be mean, I just ...
What's your favorite thing about 7th grade? nothing; actually yearbook is pretty good
Anything else you want people to know? I'm 5'8"

pictures:









age 14
we celebrated by a return to Disney after 10 years. We started with a trip to the theater to watch Fantastic Beast with some close friends on Thursday night. Friday morning we headed to Orlando for a weekend of Disney fun. There was no school due to Good Friday so MK's friend Keira got to go spend the day with us. 

Now to the yearly questions:

What is your favorite color? green
what is your favorite toy? my phone
What is your favorite fruit? pineapple
what is your favorite TV show? Heart Stopper
What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Subway
What is your favorite games? Black Jack
What is your favorite thing to wear? ripped jeans or jewelry
what is your favorite snack? peanut butter chocolate waffers
what is your favorite animal? cats or penguins
what is your favorite song? it changes every day. 3 O'clock Things and Karma by AJR
favorite book?  that's a hard on. "Turtles all the way down"
 best friend? Andrew, Keira and Megan
eat for breakfast? Dunkin Bagel bites
thing to do outside? walking
favorite drink? tea - any kind
favorite holiday? halloween
take to bed with with you?  pillows and blankets; music
what do you want to be when you grow up?  travel photographer but i don't know
where is your favorite place to go? concerts
What is something Mommy always says? "send a request"
What is something Daddy always says? "make good choices"
What's your favorite thing about 8th  grade? Ms. Gilmore and my friends
Anything else you want people to know? to my future self "it's time to dye your hair"


This has been a trying year. Lots of ups and downs. There has been lots of self discover this year and exploring who we are as a person. We will all be glad when Middle School is over. Walker is a wonderful school, but MS in general is horrible. We are looking forward to High school. MK applied/auditioned and was accepted to Blake High School for dance. 

photo recap of the year:






















Turning 12 in Quarantine

It's that time of year again. It seems I've been come a yearly blogger. MK actually requested her birthday questions this year. I'm glad she looks forward to them! Here is last year's blog and at the bottom it has a link to all the previous years blogs and birthday questions.

Up close of birthday shirt for this year



This birthday is very unique in that our entire country is in lock down due to the Corona virus/COVID 19. We've only left the house in the last 4 weeks for quick grocery store runs and the occasional visit to the Carter's. Work is from home, school is from home... basically everything is from home. MK has been helping me make fabric mask for friends and families. We are hoping to get enough made to donate some to local hospitals.



Friends and family came through to ensure MK had the best day! She woke up to gifts and cards that had been delivered throughout the weekend. Donuts and birthday cake flavored popcorn arrived on our door steps just in time for a late breakfast (thanks Jillian and AJ!). Other friends dropped by throughout the day with cards and gifts. Lori and Ali drove over from Safety Harbor to bring McDonald's and decorate the sidewalk with chalk. She got to go to the studio for class as a demonstrator. It was great to get out of the house for a bit and be at her home away from home. There was a cupcake waiting at the studio for her from Ms. Snow and Daniela. All the girls told her happy birthday via the zoom class and then they sang to her. When we got home from dance, there were balloons waiting at the door from Mahli. There was also a gift from Jenn and Dave. Shortly after we got home we had some more visitors. Paris brought a cake pinata full of candy, Emma brought some sour patch kids and the Carter's brought brownies and other goodies! She has more stuff and cards coming in the next few days/weeks to continue the celebration. We are also having a virtual sleepover on Saturday night. We have trivia, a scavenger hunt and a movie party planned via video chat. Fingers crossed all goes well and all 20-30 girls she invited are able to participate.



Here are the answers to MK's birthday questions for this year:

What is your favorite color?  Green
what is your favorite toy? my phone
What is your favorite fruit? pineapple
what is your favorite TV show? Victorious
What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? air fried chicken nuggets
What is your favorite games? minecraft
What is your favorite thing to wear? hoodies and beanies with jeans
what is your favorite snack? nutella
what is your favorite animal? birds
what is your favorite song? Lemons
favorite book? Warriors Series
 best friend? Dance team, M&Ms, Ella, Emmy, Riri, Noelle and Shae, Emma
eat for breakfast? english muffins
thing to do outside? make Tiktoks
favorite drink? cream soda and grape juice
favorite holiday? Easter
take to bed with with you? music
what do you want to be when you grow up? interior designer
where is your favorite place to go? amazon.com
What is something Mommy always says? Google, Broadcast - Madelyn, come here
What is something Daddy always says? let me teach you about ____ (insert topic here)
What's your favorite thing about 6th grade? all of the new people i've met
Anything else you want people to know? I'm 5'6" and will dominate the world with my height 

 Thanks to everyone that reached out via email, instagram, text, good ole snail mail or any other way to help celebrate our girl! She truly is loved by so many and we are blessed to have you all in our lives!




 Things from the last year to remember
- you started MS and changed schools. It was a change but you adjusted quickly
- you joined band and are learning to play the french horn
- you're still dancing
- you got your 1st pair of pointe shoes
- you rode in a limo (last day of 5th grade)
- we attempted to sleep in tee pees for GS but ended up in tents next to them
- you got to be a helper troop at encampment
- we spent 4th of July in Philadelphia




11 Start of a new Decade 11


11... Every year you have a birthday shirt, usually designed by you (at least in the recent years). This year's shirt says "Start of a new DECADE" and has an 11 on the bottom corner


she got a gaming headset and new shoes from Wes and I

she was posing for me to take a picture of her shirt


It's been a crazy busy year. You keep us on our toes with all that you do. You are always on the go and with friends. You've spent a lot of time with your dance friends, especially Mahli, Alessandra and Sofia. There have been lots of sleepovers at Emma's house (you even have a toothbrush there).





We are so thankful to friends and their parents that love you as much as we do. They are there to help when needed and jump in sometimes at the last minute. It really does take a village and we have an amazing one!



 Over the last year you've had some great achievements. You continue to make Principal's honor roll and you topped out the score for the ELA FSA. You got a cool certificate from the Governor for your hard work.
You continue to dance - alot. You are at the studio 4-5 days per week for a couple hours each day. You are in 7 group dances plus your solo this year. You've struggled a little with dance and the dynamics of being with the same people all the time. It's part of growing up and you are working through it.



The last couple months have been a little scary. You complained about your heart hurting so we went to the pediatrician. Then were referred to a cardiologist. After you described your symptoms, the doctor was pretty sure he knew what was going on. You've been on a heart monitor for the last 30 ish days. They are pretty sure you have Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT). After you are done wearing the heart monitor, we will go back to the cardiologist to fine out next steps. I'm pretty sure I had the same thing about your age. Technology wasn't as good back when I was your age, so I was never diagnosed, but I did eventually out grown it for the most part. I occasionally still have an episode. Lulu had the same experience at about your age. Nothing points to it being linked to genetics, but my Grandpa also had an irregular heart beat (his skipped beats). From the research I've done, there are a couple ways to treat it with the most severe and last resort being heart surgery. We are hoping it doesn't get to that!


 You didn't want a big party for your birthday this year, so we went to an escape room with some of your friends. It was a video game room, which was perfect for you! You are definitely your father's child and love your gaming. Ya'll worked well together and with a little help from me and Ms. Vicky, were able to escape with just over 4 minutes left. We went to Cold Stone to get ice cream after and there were more friends from school there!

Ready to Escape


All working on different games to get codes

They did it!
Bonus friends who were also at ColdStone
I'll end with annual birthday questions. I've been asking the same set of questions since you were 4, but have done a blog since you were 2.

 Annual Birthday Questions

What is your favorite color?   Green
what is your favorite toy? my phone
What is your favorite fruit? Pineapple
what is your favorite TV show? Teen Titans
What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? leftover tacos
What is your favorite games? Pick me Up (app on her phone)
What is your favorite thing to wear? jeans and a sweat shirt
what is your favorite snack? applesauce
what is your favorite animal? cat
what is your favorite song? any Hamilton song
favorite book? Divergent trilogy
 best friend? Mia Q
eat for breakfast? donut fries
thing to do outside? play with Shadow
favorite drink? peach tea
favorite holiday? Easter
take to bed with with you? my fuzzy egg and Madyson Bear 
what do you want to be when you grow up? No clue
where is your favorite place to go? dance
What is something Mommy always says? Let's go
What is something Daddy always says?
What's your favorite thing about 5th grade? sitting on stools instead of chairs
Anything else you want people to know? I'm sorta excited for MS and I won a talent show with my friends. We won People's choice and overall talent for 5-8th grades. We choreographed a routine to Hercules.


If you've made it all the way here and want to see more, below are links to previous year blogs
10 Year old
9 year old
8 year old
7 year old
6 year old
5 year old  It's at the very bottom of this post because I forgot to ask her on her 5th birthday and added it later. I also have 5.5 years old.
4 year old
3 year old
2 year old Blogger changed the way picture are uploaded since this was written so I have no idea what the pictures were.
1 year old - yay, I found it! Again, the pictures aren't showing up, but the words are there.
I also found a blog about MK's birth! You can read it here if you are still with us. 

1st birthday picture since there is none on the blog!


Thanks for loving our girl as much as we do!