Dear Lulu,
You are 12! That's a pretty big deal. You're growing up so quickly. You're two thirds of the way through with your time living at home. How did that happen? When I stop to think about that it really makes me reevaluate how I'm spending my time with you. Am I doing enough? Am I teaching you what you need to know to be successful? Am I helping you to feel loved and to make the best memories possible? I think we've done a pretty great job with things like reading together at night before bed, but there's always room for improvement.
Bring on the best memories and best teaching moments yet!
We celebrated your birthday a few different times. One Saturday Gramma and Grandpa took you out to dinner!
On your birthday day you took a treat to school, went to Young Women's, did your homework, chose Chick Fil A for dinner, and finally unwrapped the boots that you've been waiting months to open:
Just before bed you wanted your pictures taken with all of your gifts that you had set up on the piano bench:
As I tucked you in that night you told me that you had noticed that your birthday had mostly just felt like any other day. I pointed out that you chose the special dinner, and then you opened gifts, and that the Young Women sang Happy Birthday to you! You said "I know, but it just felt like a day where I got gifts." It sounds like you have matured this year. Welcome to real life! Birthdays and holidays are just normal days that we try to make extra special with traditions and gifts. It's a little sad when the magic of childhood begins to fade, but I think the excitement of growing up is worth it. So many new privileges and experiences keep coming your way.
And then we celebrated even more on the Sunday after your birthday. Grammie and Gramma and Grandpa were invited over for a fancy lunch of your choosing. You chose lobster and potato chowder. We even served it on china plates! Dad wanted to make sure that you felt special and to acknowledge what a big birthday you just had. Before we ate Dad gave a sweet little speech about how loved you are. We sang happy birthday to you again with a candle in your apple pie slice.
I see a lot of me in you. You love Enya. You love sitting down and planning trips on the computer, even if you know we probably won't take that trip. You don't love running. You love trying new recipes and taking pictures. You like to paint. You are quiet and put other's feelings above your own, even when you shouldn't. I was like that too. Time has helped me to see that this is mostly a good thing, but you do need to stand up for what you want sometimes too. It's a balancing act and I hope that I can help you learn to balance it correctly. You are in control of your happiness but you also can bring so much joy to other people. What a gift.
Your favorite foods are crab and lobster, potato chowder, bean and bacon soup, pancakes, any kind of berries, roasted veggies, tacos, Chick Fil A, lemonade, candy, and Italian ice. You eat almost everything we make at home, except mac n cheese and hot dogs. I'm not too sad about that. It's funny that you're not picky at home but everything at school lunch is disgusting. How does that happen?
You love to read and you enjoy writing stories too. You were proud when you got extra credit on the story you typed up at school. You are creative. You are also still musical. I love to hear you sing. You play the piano well, but don't practice well so you're not advancing as quickly as you should be. Slowly but surely!
You weren't super excited to move into Young Women's last month. You have loved being with me in Primary and you have loved Activity Day. You have been pleasantly surprised to learn that Mutual activities are basically Activity Day each week. You have fun leaders and a good group of girls to welcome you in.
You still struggle just a little with math, but you have been working so hard at it and have really improved! I'm proud of you for how far you've come. You're doing pre-algebra these days! You also tried out for your first play lately. You were a little disappointed not to get a lead role at first, but have really enjoyed the ensemble! I was always in ensemble too. It so fun and not very stressful since you don't have to memorize as much!
You took ski lessons this year! You were so brave to try something new; something where you sometimes fall and get hurt but you just get up and try again. You were happy that Holli went with you . You guys had a great time at your night lessons. You said skiing isn't too hard and that it is really fun. If only there was an easier way to get you up the mountain than me driving you...
I have been waking you up a few minutes earlier this year too, and you sit by the fire and study a little of the scriptures. You haven't complained about it even when you're tired. I'm not sure how much you get out of it, but just the fact that you are willing to do it and start the habit is so impressive. You will learn to love the scriptures and appreciate the way your day starts out better when you read them. You're a sweetheart with a desire to do your best. We love you so much!
Love you my pretty girl,
Mom
