this was from a school project Hannah did

From about the age of 12 my daughter has started a list of things that will be in her future apartment.  It’s not that she doesn’t like living with us, but she is just one of those people who wants to be on her own as soon as possible.  In fact if she could move out the day after high school graduation, I think she would!

She is a neat freak, I am not.  She likes everything to be put back in the same spot, I routinely put the gravy boat in with the drinking glasses which drives her mad.

One thing I hopefully have given her is the skill of grocery shopping and cooking from scratch.  Some of the items that will be in her kitchen:

  • skinny chicken (even though she knows it costs three times as  much, she likes that its ready to go!)
  • water chestnuts
  • House of Tsang Classic stir fry sauce
  • onions! (how I birthed a child that likes onions, I’ll never know!)
  • canned mandarin oranges
  • diet Brisk tea with lemon
  • rice
  • pasta

Notice chicken is the only meat on the list, because that’s mainly all she eats – no red meat, unless its in chili or I make her a skinny burger!

But do you want to know why she is excited about turning 18?  It’s not because she can register to vote.  Nope!

Top Five Reasons Hannah is excited about being 18

  1. She can buy scratch off lottery tickets.
  2. She can buy canned aerosol whip cream.
  3. She can get her own passport.
  4. She can legally stay out after midnight!
  5. She doesn’t need parental consent to get her nose pierced (I am sure a picture of that will be forthcoming!)

She makes me so proud.  I’ve loved watching her grow up into the woman she is today.  Determined, independent, patient and she has a loving heart.  One of my favorite stories of her growing up is that by the time she was able to talk I made her do the talking.  If we were in a store and she needed to use the bathroom, she had to find someone to ask – I would tell her “I am not going to be with you all the time you need to do it yourself!”

I was standing in line at Whole Foods.  She was about 4.  She wanted a strawberry smoothie, so I gave her the money and told her to stand in line and wait for her turn.  I was all of about 10 feet from her.   The counter was taller than she was.  When it got to be her turn, the worker looked past her at the guy behind her and I hear her shout “excuse me – I was here first!” and she slapped her money on the counter and asked for a strawberry smoothie!  I was like “yes!”

Go here if you want to see last years post to her 17th birthday – I wanted to make sure I didn’t post the same pictures as last year!

she hardly had any hair as a baby - her first hair cut wasn't until age 3!

I love that picture above.  Actually the day I went back to work when Hannah was six weeks old – they let me go.  My boss said he didn’t have to give me my same job back, just “a job.”   So instead of being a property manager, all he wanted me to do was collect the change out of the washers and dryers!   So that little event was what sent me crawling back to my parents house “for a year” – which really ended up being five years!   I have said it before, but I would not change those events because Hannah got to spend her first five years with the last five years of my Dad’s life.  Hannah is the oldest grandchild and because we lived with my parents, she has the best memories of him, even though she was six when he died.

In any event, the only work I could find was temporary work, and every Sunday I would have the want ads out trying to find better work – I love that she thought she was helping me find a job! 😀

I used to call her a bag lady because she was forever stuffing things into bags and trying to carry too much.  This particular day that picture was taken above – while she has a smile on in this picture, a mere 10 seconds later and she was in utter tears.  My parents house had a big loop – meaning you could walk from the kitchen, into the living room, into the dining room and into the other part of the kitchen.  Hannah loved traveling the loop with her baby strollers!  Except this particular trip, she has another stroller on her arm and there was no room between the dining room and the piano to get through with all this stuff!  She was determined though!  She put everything down, and with tears still streaming down her face, moved all the chairs out of the way, put all her stuff back on and was good to go!

And I love her smile! 😀 She was 14 in this picture.

This is her Senior picture! 😀

So no food pics today – just wanted to wish Hannah a very Happy Birthday and tell her that I love her and I am so proud of her!  I can’t wait to see where life takes you Hannah – I have a feeling its going to be a great ride! 😀

Okay, it’s 12:45 a.m. – she has made it home safely and is officially 18!!!!!!!!!!!!!  We love her! 😀