Happy Birthday, Abby!

HAPPY 12TH BIRTHDAY, ABBY!

It doesn't matter how old I am - the fact that I now have a 12 year old makes me old. Wow! Greg and I realized today that we only have one more year that we won't have a teenage girl in our home before around 14 years of teenage daughterdom.

Honestly, I am loving this time. It's such a blessing to interact with our oldest daughters in a more grown up way and have deeper conversations. I am fascinated by their unique personalities and talents (and weaknesses). I love to hear them pray. I love to watch their tastes develop. And, I love that we can play with Klutz Icky Poo that Grace gave Abby for her birthday (aka "sticky poo" by Emma and "Icky Poop" by Grace), see picture below:

It was a fun day for Abby. We started with her requested birthday breakfast of...

breakfast sausage... and anything else we wanted. The important thing was breakfast sausage - links. We also had buttermilk pancakes and o.j. - two other favorites. She had a great time opening gifts, enjoying them, receiving some special phone calls, having a guitar lesson, going to volleyball camp (everyday this week from 3-5), and having some surprise gifts dropped off throughout the day from friends.

Requested birthday dinner was bar-b-que beef sandwiches, homemade fries, green beans (o.k., those were not requested; I threw those in), and chocolate chip cake and vanilla ice cream for birthday dessert.

Then we watched a family movie, and now we're calling it a day.

We love you so much, Abby!