Happy 14th to my sis, happy Thanksgiving to everyone else

Today my baby sister turns 14. I'm both amazed at how quickly she's growing up, amused at how she is similar to I was at that age, and proud of who she's turning into. She told me she liked Othman's picture birthday post and that I should do more posts with less blahblah and more photos, so I'm taking this opportunity to do so!

These pictures give you a good idea of who Tessie is. She's a goof who's confident and has an attitude, and who is totally lovable and oh-so-sweet. Happy bday lil sis, love you!! 

2005-2008

 

...then some time passed and some growing up happened, and she turned into....

 2013-2014

Somehow those faces stayed pretty similar! Today is Thanksgiving in the US and she got a fantastic birthday present-- our biggest brother arrived home on a surprise visit, when he was supposed to be in Amsterdam! There was one other year that her birthday fell on Thanksgiving and he wasn't around, and he was never really forgiven for that. Hopefully this makes up for it!

Here they are together, back in the day!

I wish I could have hopped on that plane with him to be home today (even if it was -8 Fahrenheit/-22 Celsius there this morning...), but being far makes me even more thankful for my family and my sibs! So I'll let Tessie's and Maria's joint artistry close this post. Today, don't forget to...

and to...