21 and Going Strong

Happy Birthday, Aido Barbado! (Apparently, this is what Callie now calls Aidan). She will always be my l'il punkin pie, though.

I could go really deep with this post, and tell Aidan's story, with all it's trials and successes, but I want to focus on lightheartedness. She made it to 21, and I am just so thankful and happy and blessed that I am filled with happiness. To let a dark thought from the past into my mind today seems wrong, so I won't.

Here are a couple of pics of Aidan when she was a little punkin pie (sorry for horrible quality---pics of pics taken with my phone):

Here's Aidan with her cousin Andrew (aka Spiffy):

I loved it when I found this Halloween costume in a thrift shop! Aidan loved it, too, and wore it two years in a row.

Aidan practicing her gymnastics at Mimi and Grandpa's house:

The kids at the beach several February's ago:

Aidan (on left) with her friend Heather at church:

At our house in Albuquerque:

Aidan and Callie at the Albuquerque house:

Aidan sitting in a mock oval office at The Magic House in Illinois:

She's just amazing. When I think of how hard she's worked to survive and overcome and be successful, I'm just in awe. She's the strongest person I know and I'm so proud she's my daughter.

She recently posted this video on FB...its a rap song she wrote while in jail almost three years ago... (I don't know how to upload the video, but hopefully if you click on the link, you'll see it)

https://www.facebook.com/Babyaids/videos/1241352272544875/

And this is a video that totally brings tears to my eyes every time I see it...

https://www.facebook.com/Babyaids/videos/1099200883426682/

I told her a couple days ago that I'm going to make her a cake today. I usually make cakes for my kids birthday's and decorate them myself. I'm not a great cake decorator, but I think I'm okay, and I'm probably the only one that can accommodate some of my kids weird requests. This is how the text conversation went about Aidan's cake this year:

Anyway, this may be the hardest cake I've done in a while. When the kids were little, I did some elaborate, time consuming cakes. I've got to go back and find those pics...they're awesome. But as the kids grew and life grew busier, the cakes were more rushed.

Here are a few of the cakes I've done (that I can find the pics of, lol). Keep in mind, they give me very specific instructions of how they want their cakes to be, and I try hard to accommodate them.

This one was a little rushed, because Aidan decided at the very last minute she wanted a sea monster with bloodshot eyes and bloody teeth:

Joe followed suit later that year with his own gory request:

Here's a cake I did a couple years ago for the surgeon I work for:

Today's Hello Kitty Choking Spoopy cake may be pretty difficult. I'm getting off work early, so I can decorate it when I get home. I still need to pick up a couple frosting colors from the store...

And a quick thank you for all the well wishes. I'm doing great after a couple hard days, and I'll be mountain climbing by springtime!