#19, and the first one away from home, the first that I’ll not be spending with her! So our college girl is celebrating her birthday in college style, with an incredible group of friends – makes me so happy to see this support system Manasi has built around herself! And how sweet of her roommate, MS, to bring her cake at midnight!! Ajey and I will see her on Wednesday for a delayed birthday dinner – and then we get a whole month with her! Happy 19th, Manasi, keep shining!!

Stepping into adulthood with a rocking 18th birthday!! Once again, celebrating with the Madrigals by hosting the cast after-party at our house! It was a very emotional night – as a Senior this is the last year for Manasi in the castle, the end of an incredible 4 year journey! And once more, her friends burst into an impromptu ‘Happy Birthday’ after the performance – bringing her to tears. We had almost 30 kids in our basement that night, with pizza and cake – and the party went on till 4am!! Another busy day today – with the Madrigals cleanup, followed by a cast Christmas party – we’re hoping the Queen will squeeze us in for a birthday lunch in her busy schedule!! Happy 18th, Manasi!!

Like the previous 2 years, #17 was again all about the Madrigals! And this year, it was the Saturday – day of pictures and the final performance. I took in cupcakes for the entire crew – heartwarming to hear them sing to her in full costume! Of course, we kept on with our new tradition of a birthday cupcake at midnight!

Sweet sixteen! Can there be anything more fun? Manasi got her first bank account and more importantly, her driver’s license!! Busy with Madrigals practice and final exams, Manasi thought that the cupcake at midnight was all the celebration she was having this year! We managed to surprise her with a special party – complete with a tiara and a sash!!

Here we go – the high school years have begun – and there’s no break from tests and quizzes, not even on birthdays!! It’s also been an exceptionally busy week, with Madrigal practices every evening till 9pm – leaving Manasi with very little time to study for today’s tests – one of which includes the dreaded Bio Honors!! So not a very birthday-like atmosphere today morning – phone calls from grandparents, the birthday aarti – all moved to the evening – and the morning was spent reviewing her study guides! She’s still not sure what we’re doing for a party – probably lunch and a movie for some of her besties. And dinner tonight at the Hibachi grill! This, of course, is quite the landmark birthday – turning 15 means that come January, our little girl will start Driver’s Ed in school – and she will be behind the wheel a scant 3 months after that!! Happy 15th, Manasi!

Another year has flown by – yes, a whole year – and it is Manasi’s 14th birthday!! Fourteen – seriously, I’m going to need a ‘Pause’ button now – how is it even possible that my little baby is fourteen?!!! Today being a school day we had a pretty low-key celebration. Cake at home – oh, and since it is National Cookie day, we also made cookies – and then a wonderful dinner at Thyme in downtown Peoria. Party this weekend – still haven’t decided what we’re going to do – the only instructions I have is that the party has to be ‘cool’ – an adjective that I can apparently no longer claim!! A cool birthday party for a 14-year-old – planning this party is going to be quite the challenge? Any ideas?? 

So, thirteen – officially, a teenager in the house!! This year’s birthday celebrations were kicked off by the sweetest gesture ever – Manasi’s friend, CG, gave her a surprise Harry-Potter themed birthday party!! Manasi, of course, was thrilled to bits – a big, big ‘Thank you’ to CG!! With the million things we all juggle – planning a birthday party for your daughter’s friend needs a special kind of person – HG, you rock!! And while Manasi was at her surprise birthday sleepover, Ajey and I headed out for birthday shopping – and by the way, Kohl’s staying open till 1am, absolutely ridiculous – Dad had promised his princess 13 gifts for her 13th birthday!! We actually did pretty good – 11 gifts in 3 hours, and then 2 books to bring up the total!! The evening ended with cake with Y & R. And no, we’re still not done – invitations go out tomorrow for a lunch/bowling party next Sunday!! Definitely a birthday to remember!!

A few years ago, when I started writing my first blog, Coolkarnis in China, one of my earliest posts was ‘Happy Birthday, Manasi!‘ – it had a photo for each birthday that Manasi had, and I added to it every year, right upto last year. Now, for obvious reasons, there is no new content on Coolkarnis in China – so I thought it would make more sense for the post to move here. Well, a day of struggling to port just one post from Blogger to WordPress – believe me, it’s much harder than it sounds – I think it’s easier if I create a new post here, and add a link to the old one. So, here it is, ‘Happy Birthday, Manasi!’!! Anyway, this year is a landmark birthday – THIRTEEN –  that surely deserves a brand new post!!

Happy birthday, princess – and here’s to many, many more!!