Golden 16th Birthday

Ally turned 16 on November 16, 2022. 16 on the 16th it called for a golden celebration.

We talked about a party, but Ally wasn’t sure, the timing is not great with it being mid week the last week of the semester at school. So Becky and I let us drop and with some hep from Beth we selected a gold necklace from Tiffany’s to honor Ally’s Golden 16th.

But Ally is sick. And I’m sick too. Seems like just a bad cold because we keep testing Negative for COVID. But Ally has missed 3 days of school, including today and we’ve been miserable.

Becky stayed home today as a family sick day to take care of us and help prep for “Ally’s Birthday Extravaganza” as I called it today. Ally rolled her eyes every time I declared it that. Beth of course came over, she hasn’t missed a birthday in 16 years. 

Ally slept most of the morning. Then we went upstairs and I gave her a pedicure and we watched a movie. After the movie Beth arrived and she and Becky and I decorated the living room while Ally did some homework.

Then at 4pm the Extravaganza began.

Fresh pedicure!

We have Ally 1 gift early, some new pajamas she could wear to the Extravaganza.

I baked the cake and sourced the decorations and the design but Becky executed it perfectly. It truly looked like a store bought cake. That was a “naked frosting” technique and meringues with a custom cake topper I ordered on Etsy.

The sisters hanging up balloons.

The living room decorations tour.



I had 16 themed posters printed up to cover our usual art.

And we hung gold and white paper fans all over the place. 

Ally was pretty impressed.

And excited to open her gift from Tiffany’s.

We had Chik Fil A for dinner.

Annual Aunt/niece photograph. They sat apart because of Ally’s cold.

Time to sing and blow out the candles.

Ally and I went and got PCR tests after the extravaganza. Just want to be really sure it’s not COVID.

Then it was home to watch a few episodes of SVU before bed. 

Hopefully school tomorrow.

I can’t hardly believe she is 16.

November 1-15, 2022

November is always a big month; Day of the Dead, Ally’s birthday, the end of first semester, Thanksgiving and travel, end of volleyball season, start of basketball season and the lead up to Christmas. 

I set up our Offrenda (altar) to honor our relatives and pets that have passed.  We had a family dinner on November 2 and each spent some time remembering our loved ones.

Ally’s team won their 1st game in the league championship tournament.

Then 2 days later they won the championship.

Her school posted some pictures from the game. 

Ally was pretty happy to pose for a picture with her championship t-shirt. 

We ordered pizza again for dinner to celebrate the win. 

Saturday Ally had her nails done and then we spent the day watching SVU. 


Ally also did some homework, sketching a hamster for her Science project (below) and reading the driver manual in preparation of her permit test (above).

Sunday Ally tried out for a different Volleyball club. She was offered a spot on one of their teams! We are so happy she will be able to continue volleyball in the off season. 

My annual Election Day selfie. It’s been a tense week waiting for election results. But we cheered when the last few races were called over the weekend. It’s interesting to talk with Ally about candidates and voting and how political climate impacts us. We are thrilled that Massachusetts has our first woman governor! And she is LGBTQ. So good to see representation that reflects our family. 

Over the weekend another Fab Fit Fun box arrived. And Ally and I got Flu shots (note the arm bandaid).


A great portrait of Cloey.

But by Monday Ally was feeling pretty sick. She usually feels crummy after her flu shot, but this was worse. She stayed home from school yesterday and today. We hope that tomorrow, her birthday, she can go to school. She has been testing negative for COVID, so we think it’s just a cold.

Halloween 2022

We managed to spend an hour on Sunday before Halloween carving a pumpkin together. 

Of course that also meant roasting the seeds. 

Halloween was a Monday this year and of course Ally had practice volleyball now and not gymnastics but no trick or treating, just pizza and TV with Mommy and Daisy while Becky and Cloey the clown gave out candy.

It’s hard to take a selfie of the 3 of us and our pumpkin. 

Scooping out the guts

And separating the seeds



Ally was very meticulous about drying the seeds off.





Becky carved first





Then Ally.

We finished and then had to run off to some club volleyball tryouts. Ally was not selected for a team with this club. It was a bummer but not a surprise since she missed 2 of the 3 tryout days with her sprained ankle. She will try out for another club this weekend.

Halloween morning. 

We came home from practice to this site. Becky and Cloey look so cute. 

I asked a neighbor to take a picture of all of us. There were so many trick or treaters. Solid for about 2 hours. Cloey was the star. Becky said lots of people took pictures of Cloey and many kids pet her and one toddler even hugged Cloey. And Cloey was so good. Quiet and calm. The public Cloey is so well behaved compared to the private one we live with who is currently barking at sounds outside she cannot see.

And as a flashback to Ally’s first Halloween in 2007 when she was 11 months old:

Ally with Daisy. We watched SVU and giggled at all the commotion with the trick or treaters outside. It was a lovely way to spend Halloween with this teenager.