sweet little sixteen

This is my, ahem, little sister Lauren. She turned 16 last month and her first prom was last weekend. Wait, what?! Prom? 16? Dating? Driving? No more braces? My little sister? When people ask me how old she is, I still have to catch myself because I instinctively want to answer 14. However, Lauren is not 14 anymore. not.at.all.

Lauren is in high school and gets all As. She's a dancer and every time I watch her perform, it takes my breath away. She is one of the most determined people I know and never stops until a project is finished and perfected. We called her "Mini Martha" when she was little because she was so creative and was always making little crafts or decorations. You know when you feel like you can't ever wear really fashionable things because you could never pull it off? Lauren is the opposite of that. She can pull anything off with style and ease. Lauren and I like to watch Disney Channel together and sometimes we text each other hilarious quotes from those shows. She is one of the most righteous people I know and has always been such a good example to me. She just got her Young Womanhood Recognition award and I know she worked really hard for that so I'm so proud of her. Lauren is a very thoughtful shopper and will only buy a piece of clothing after careful consideration, unlike some other people (like me) who will buy anything anytime. But that way, she just ends up with clothes she really really likes. I love hanging out with her because she's not afraid to act like a kid sometimes. Which is really fun when we're jumping on the tramp or getting really excited for Santa to come on Christmas Eve. Kelsey and I used to get so bugged when we were little and Lauren would want to watch us play barbies. So one time, Lauren sneaked into the barbie room before us and hid in the closet with a box of cereal so she could watch us without us getting mad. We did end up getting mad when we found her, but I think that's so funny now. She has the biggest, most beautiful eyes out of anyone in our family, and I'm really jealous of that. Sometimes she'll buy her shoes a half size up from her actual foot size so I can share with her. We used to read books together all the time, with me reading out loud to her, and sometimes we still do it, just for fun. When we were little, we could entertain ourselves for hours playing make-believe games like the one where we were servants in a castle and lived on the stairs. We would literally just sit on the stairs and do nothing, but somehow it was a game to us. Lauren is one of the coolest people I know and seriously has about 100000 friends. Really. 100000.

Sometimes she drives me crazy, but mainly I just love her because she's awesome. It seems like she's all grown up, and yet she has the rest of her life ahead of her. And I know she can do anything she wants, and she will be so good at it.

Love you, Laur. Happy birthday!