Birthday Recap

Wow, is it fun to have a twelve year old daughter!   Just yesterday I was looking at a picture of her at three months, a big smile on her face.  The time has flown by and it’s been so much fun.  Here’s a quick look back at her birthday festivities.


This picture of the birthday girl hugging her two year old sister tugs at my heart.   These two have a special relationship which I hope they manage to keep over the years.  It’s sweet to watch the two year old idolize the older one, and the older one be so loving and patient with the little one.  The same goes for the baby, below.


We had a fun celebration at home and the birthday party for friends was the following day.  We baked sugar cookies in seven different shapes and had a cookie decorating party.  I taught them all how to outline and flood each cookie with royal icing and then we let them loose.




I’ll admit to mild feelings of dismay when our guests turned the decorating tips on each other.


I kept quiet, however, and they had a great time.






I failed to anticipate how much noise twelve year old girls make, even while decorating cookies.  In my mind I pictured a cookie decorating party for some moms a couple of years ago, remembering how quiet we were.  I planned the party for the evening so my husband could take the other 7 upstairs and put them to bed.  In reality it was so loud that even the baby couldn’t sleep and we had a very noisy house for several hours.

Still, the cookies were cute…





…the girls had fun…

…and the birthday girl was happy.


For the record, here are some favorites at age 12:
Favorite song:  You Belong With Me, Taylor Swift Favorite food:  spaghetti Favorite dessert:  apple pie Favorite color:  pink and blue Favorite sport:  soccer and gymnastics Favorite movie:  Man From Snowy River Favorite book she’s read:  Love Comes Softly Series Favorite book she hasn’t read:  Twilight (stole it from Mom and read half) Favorite Shakespeare play:  Twelfth Night Favorite outfit:  jeans and an Aeropostale t-shirt, with a hoodie when cold Favorite dressy outfit:  new green sweater (thanks Grandma!) with black skirt OR gray ruffle skirt, white shirt and silver gray cardigan Favorite piece of jewelry:  jingle bell necklace and bracelet (from a friend) Favorite store:  Aeropostale Favorite friends:  Riley, Jessie, Kelsey, Erica, Sydney (2nd cousin), Savannah, Samantha Favorite class at school:  Theater/Drama Favorite saying:  “Sweet lady, ho ho”  (see above favorite Shakespeare play) AND “Be not afraid of greatness, twas well written…. Some are born great, Some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.”  (from same play) Favorite word:  antidisestablishmentarianism Favorite scripture:  1 Nephi 3:7 Favorite snack:  goldfish crackers Favorite candy bar:  3 Musketeers Favorite candy:  chocolate covered cinnamon bears (along with much of the family) Favorite way to do her hair:  pony tail Best thing about being twelve:  graduating from Primary to Young Womens