Brooklyn is a teenager!

 

Since Craig and I were out of town for Brooklyn's 13th birthday, well technically we got back in town on the evening of her birthday, things looked a little bit different this year.  Before Craig  and I headed out of town we celebrated with cake and presents.  Brooklyn had been requesting a red velvet cake for months so I made one that turned out pretty dang good, so we had the grandparents over to eat with us.  Her gifts are starting to get a little bit more boring as she gets older, she mainly got a lot of clothes and some books.  The kids stayed with Stan and Diane the first half of the week we were gone and the kids had Presidents day off of school, so Brooklyn had a few friends over to hang out in the basement and they also went out to Olive Garden, Brooklyn loves her pasta.  She also got to open her gift from Stan and Diane, a ticket to Mamma Mia when it comes to the Morrison Center this summer.  

Then when they were staying with my mom she did a big birthday dinner for her with all the family where she got a plant from Missy and a sweatshirt and pedicure from Grandma.  I know she was bummed that we were out of town, but she got to celebrate for over a week, you can't complain too much about that.  She was a good sport about us being gone.

When we were in St. Lucia, people would ask us about our kids and when we would tell them that we had a daughter that was about to turn 13 their normal response was, "good luck, teenage girls are really hard" but we don't feel that way at all.  She is such a bright spot in our family, she is witty, level headed, smart, kind and happy.  She is a night owl, she can stay up and read forever, she gets giggly and a little crazy when she has too much sugar, she loves to be with her friends and teammates, but still enjoys being with her family. She is such a pleasure to be around, we really got lucky with her!