Hi!


I'm Shay! I’m a cookbook author, lifestyle blogger, travel agency owner, wife and mama who loves making every day special for my family.

Read more

Mix & Match Mama

Kensington ·

Kensington is 15!

88 Comments

And just like that, fifteen years have passed.

Today is our sweet Kensington Kate’s BIRTHDAY!

That sweet baby girl right there was the answer to a million prayers.

I cannot believe that it’s already been 15 years.

Oh how we are SO BLESSED to have this girl as our daughter.

Here are 15 things about our 15 year old on the 15th…her Golden Birthday:

1: She loves being with friends and having a big social circle, but she also loves her alone time and has always been our most independent/introverted kiddo.

2: She has never met a candy she didn’t love.

3: She watches The Office and Gilmore Girls on repeat.  REPEAT

4: She loves Halloween and Christmas.

5: She loves to put on her Bose headphones, listen to music and bake…but only if no one else is in the kitchen.  She likes to get into her groove and not be interrupted.

6: I’ve never met a person who loved the ocean more.

7: I’ve also never known someone to love a dog as much as she loves her dog.

8: She’s not afraid of anything.  Scary movies, snakes, weather…never afraid.

9: She is a Swiftie through and through.

10: She is a night person but doesn’t like to be rushed in the morning, so she always sets her alarm for earlier than necessary just to give herself that extra time.

11: She has a big soft spot for her great grandparents.

12: She loves to collect things.

13: She is really good at braiding hair.

14: She knows a freakish amount about music, singers and songwriters.

15: Her brother is one of her very favorite people.

She keeps us busy.  She keeps us on our toes.  She keeps us laughing, praying, and really pushes us to be the best parents we can be for her and her younger siblings.

Kensington Kate Shull, we love you so much, and we are so proud of you!  God answered a million prayers when He gave us you.

Bring on 15!  Now, it’s time to learn how to drive. 😉

Happy Friday, friends!

I’ll see you all back here TOMORROW! xx

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

You’ll Also Love

Kensington’s Spa Day
Kensington’s British Bash!
First Day of School 2015

Comments

    • Melissa Hill says

      I just love the positivity you always have!. As a recent empty nester, all I can say is cherish these sweet birthdays and all the days in between. Even if that means telling all of us to chill out so you can soak in the love and be present! Hope your oldest has the best day and love when I see y’all on the Square (I live in Van Alstyne).

      Reply

      • Claris Yoder says

        To teach her to drive: 1) Let her get her permit as soon as she can so that she has to drive with you for a long time. 2) Take her to a LARGE parking lot – like at a mega church or school. She can drive forwards, back up, learn how to pull into a parking space – all the things – before she drives on the road or in a busy parking lot. 3) If you get her a car, make her drive that car with you for awhile before she drives it herself so that the excitement wears off. My daughter wrecked her car the first time she got to drive it by herself because she was so excited to have her own car and she wasn’t paying attention.

        Reply

        • Leticia says

          That is great advice. I would add, don’t drive rushed. Our first child’s first accident was because she was running late for school and was driving too fast for a curve and hit a parked car! So the next two got it drilled into their heads, if you’re late, you’re late, you don’t make up time on the road.

          Reply

  4. Erika Slaughter says

    Happy Birthday, KENSINGTON!! That girl also has some of the VERY best one liners! She keeps the carpool laughing-even at 6:00 am! I hope she has the very best day! And your last sentence gave me all the feels!! 😬😭🤪🥹 I’m not ready for that quite yet!

    Reply

  8. SS says

    Awe such a sweet post!! Happy Birthday…hope it is amazing as you are!!!

    Shay hugs and it goes by so quick? Is she learning to drive??

    Have a wonderful Bday weekend/ homecoming!!!

    Reply

  13. Angela says

    Happy Birthday Kensington!!!🥳🎂
    As a mom of a (cute!😉) freshman football player, we love having cheerleaders fire up the crowd! Keep up the great work, Kensington!! And…Love K’s cheerleading picture!! Have a great HOCO!

    Reply

  15. Kristin Lyngaas says

    Happy birthday Kensington!! May God bless you with a fabulous 15th year. You are beautiful, you are loved and you are God’s daughter. Have a fabulous day today!! 🎉🙏❤️😎🎼

    Reply

    • Mix and Match Mama says

      We call her “K”, but everyone else calls her Kensington. The entire time I was pregnant with her, we thought we’d call her Kensey if she were a girl (we didn’t know what we were having), but the second she came out, we saw her as a Kensington and have never called her anything else. Mades is the only real nickname that a kiddo uses outside of the home/friends and family call her. Ashby and Smith have nicknames we call them in the home, but Mades is our only “real” nickname.

      Reply

      • Bev says

        We have a granddaughter, Madelyn, and we started calling her Mads. She’s Kensington’s age and now that she’s in h.s. her friends all call her Mady. Interesting, when asked what she wanted used for a volleyball sign, she said Madelyn! I love knowing nicknames, too! 💖

        Reply

      • Gina says

        So funny! I have a Makinsey who is about to turn 17 and was all set to call her Kinsey. She’s been Mak her whole life at home. Almost everyone calls her by her full name except for a select few friends who use Mak. Funny how things turn out!

        Reply

  22. Karah Stracener says

    Happy Birthday to your beautiful girl! Time flies when you’re having fun. I am trying to soak up every minute with my girls while they are still young and want to cuddle.

    Reply

  23. Julee says

    I have an almost 15 year old freshman cheerleader as well. So I have to ask what hair tool does she use to get her beautiful waves/curls? It is a struggle to find the perfect one! Thanks!

    Reply

  25. sandi says

    Goodness I remember Kensington’s younger years (before adoptions/through the blog only) and it has gone fast. Raising a good kid is hard and you seem to be doing it well. Keep the lines of communication open and things will be wonderful. I have always passed the learning to drive duties to my husband. Three down, one to go and I have not taught any of them yet! Our youngest is also 15; we are doing some traveling in our RV this year so she is doing “RV School” online. We have joked about putting a “be patient student driver” sticker on the back of the RV. If she can drive that she can drive anything.

    Happiest of birthdays to Kensington! I know she will feel celebrated and loved.

    Reply

      • sandi says

        Aww, thanks Shay. My husband, 15 year old daughter and I have been RV traveling. We went up to Niagara Falls (US and Canadian side) and spent over a week there. On the drive back to Virginia we visited Hershey and Lancaster and of course had many stops on the way up and back down. We were gone for about three weeks. In October we will start driving out to Denver and our college kids will fly out and join us for their fall breaks. Bummer that they are not the same time frame but grateful they can come and the flights are direct so hoping there are zero delays on either end. We will be back home for thanksgiving and trying to figure out a trip with everyone over Christmas. At some point we will probably end up in Texas… I’ve been numerous times through Dallas/Fort Worth airport but never actually visited.

        Reply

  26. Andrea says

    Happy Birthday to Kensington!! I say let Andrew teach her to drive…haha. I was horrible at teaching my kids. Its life changing once they can though!!! 🙂

    Reply

  27. Paula McKaughan says

    Shay, she’s so beautiful! Happy Birthday, Kensington!!! Good luck to you all during the driving lessons!! 🙂

    Reply

  28. Debbie K. says

    Happy golden birthday Kensington Kate! (Love her name!). I have sweet/fun memories of teaching our two to drive. Don’t dread it…just hang on for the sillies. LOL

    Reply

  30. Alison says

    Happy GOLDEN Birthday, to your beautiful young lady!!

    Ps. Teaching a kid to drive will age you ten years. Believe me. I’m certain that’s when my “sparkly” strands starting showing up. Lol 😉

    Reply

  33. Liz Thorson says

    Happy Birthday to darling Kensington! I’ve enjoyed what you have shared about her from your very early posts through today. She is one wonderful girl! How lucky for all who know and love her in person! I’ve loved noticing in pictures how dear and tender she appears to be with her sibs and cousins!

    Reply

  36. Robin says

    Bring on 15 , lovely Kensington! Hope you have a wonderful celebration . Hang on for the ride , Shay ! Never ever a dull moment again ! 😂

    Reply

  38. Deena says

    Happy 15th Birthday, Kensington! I’ve watched her change over the years on this blog and now she’s a lovely young lady. Nothing prepared us for our kids to be driving and it wasn’t the least bit fun but I will say that both of our sons turned out to be excellent drivers. Good luck!

    Reply

  39. MelanieL says

    Happy birthday Kensington!! Such a sweet post and K is living her best life! 15 hit hard for me as a mom with both of my kids, the minute you see them behind the wheel they’re all grown up and you know you’ll be seeing less and less of them when they do get their license, jobs, etc.

    Reply

  43. Gina says

    Hi Shay!
    Quick question. I noticed you ordered the Chicology faux wood blinds from Amazon for your Nantucket house. Did you order the Basic white or the Chelsea White (commercial grade) blinds? We are looking to replace our blinds. Happy Birthday Kensington!

    Thanks!

    Thanks!

    Reply

  44. Tina says

    I mean, why am I crying?😭 Goodness, our babies really do grow up so fast. Like, way faster than we realize when people keep telling us it goes by fast and we’re like, “Yes, I know”. But we don’t know…because it’s even faster than we think.😪🤧 — Random question… Do Kensington and Luke still say they’re getting married one day? I remember them saying that when they were little (yesterday). ☺️

    Reply

    • Mix and Match Mama says

      Awwwwww! They did used to say that. You know, unfortunately, those two don’t get to see each other often since they’re at different schools. I cannot believe Andrea and I have 15 year olds now. It’s CRAZY!

      Reply

  46. Connie says

    🎉 Happy golden Birthday to your beautiful girl Kensington Kate!! She sounds so much like my 17 year old daughter. 🥰 🥳 🎈🎁 🎂

    Reply

  48. Lori Whittington says

    Happy golden Birthday to your girl! She has grown up to be a beautiful young lady! Have fun at HOCO 🙂 Enjoy this next year of teaching her to drive….nothing will prepare you for that first trip they do alone.

    Reply

  52. Anna says

    I have two seniors in college and my best advice to younger parents about teaching them to drive is this: Farm. It. Out. Do the whole parking lot thing so they at least get the feel of things and then let your fingers do the walking and call a driving school or AAA has a fantastic learn to drive program. You will save yourself hours of aggravation, preserve your nerves and dodge so many arguments – also a nice little discount on your insurance (which I’m sure you are well aware of.) Some of the best parenting money we ever spent. Happy birthday to her!

    Reply

  53. GiGi says

    I blinked……and now Kensington is 15! She is still as beautiful as ever! I hope she has a very happy birthday and a wonderful first HoCo! What an exciting weekend for her!

    Reply

  54. Carly says

    But like she was a LITTLE BABY when I first started reading your blog?! Now she’s the age that Taylor Swift has written songs about? WILD Happy Birthday Kensington! Enjoy it!

    Reply

  55. Constance says

    Aww happy birthday!! Just curious-was Kensington born with an underbite? I noticed her teeth are different from her toddler pic and now. Just wondering since my little one has an underbite haha

    Reply

  56. Bethany says

    Happy Golden Birthday to Kensington! My golden bday was a while ago when I turned 23 on the 23rd! A lot of people have never heard of celebrating a golden bday!

    Reply

  58. Allie says

    What happened to middle school/high school kids going through an awkward phase…like the 80’s and 90’s kids?!?! 😂She is beautiful!!! Happy birthday, Kensington!

    Reply

  59. Carissa says

    Happy Birthday Kensington!! Wishing you the best year ahead ever filled with all the people and things you love most!

    Does Kensington have her own blog or Instagram page? Would love for my girls to follow someone who loves the Lord and family and life as she seems to do! Or would love to have a guest post from her someday with book recomendations, any insights for being a parent of teens, what she thinks helped most toward fostering amazing sibling relationships etc.

    Reply

  62. Lexi says

    Happy birthday! How did you choose the name Kensington and the names of the other kids? I have never met anyone with these names!

    Reply

    • Mix and Match Mama says

      I am positive I have blog posts about this, but in a nutshell, they all have British names. In 2006, Andrew and I were in London and saw the word “Kensington” on so many things and loved it. From there, each kiddo has a name that stems from Britain. Smith and Ashby and very common surnames in Britain, Madeley is a town in England, their middle names are Kate, William (and no, not on purpose, they were born before those two were engaged!), London and James.

      Reply

  63. Carole says

    Best way to teach them to drive? Get them familiar in a parking lot and a few streets close to home, then pay for driving lessons! LOL Seriously, we have Thompson Driving School where we live and they do four lessons in different areas – close neighborhood, unfamiliar neighborhood, downtown, and /highwayinterstate. At least with our daughter, she was much calmer with a stranger teaching her. And hope she had a great birthday!

    Reply

  64. VA says

    HOPE KENSINGTON HAD A GREAT BIRTHDAY!!

    I ENJOY YOUR POSTS ABOUT YOUR FAMILY AND ALL THE DIFFERENT THINGS YOU COVER.

    PRAYING YOUR PROPERTY IN NANTUCKET IS SAFE DURING THE STORM.

    Reply

  65. Laura Holmes says

    Happy Birthday to Kensington! What a wonderful tribute. And oooohhhh man… I would potty train 100 toddlers before teaching another teenager to drive. We just finished that with my 16 year old baby-the last of our three. So happy to be done!!

    Reply

  66. Beth Knecht says

    Happy, happy birthday to Kensington! My how time flies! I remember when she was just little and you were going to all kinds of park dates with friends. It reminds me how fast time goes, so I stop myself and remember to snuggle little Graham more and cherish all of our park dates because soon he will be 15!!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe via Email

Copyright © 2023 Mix & Match Mama | Privacy Policy