rebekah is 12

she made us parents 12 years ago.

the first 1/3 of her life (under our roof) was not easy. it took all we had to be the parents she needed us to be. she cried for the first 2 years, and then she was defiant, confident in what she wanted (no matter if it's what WE wanted for her!).

this 2/3 of her life (under our roof) has been amazing to be a witness to. she has become a thoughtful, generous, kind young woman. her beauty goes deep and pat and i often say how amazing she is. and her transformation has given MANY moms of hard toddlers hope :-)

we had such a fun day celebrating her yesterday! it was fun that her birthday fell on a saturday when we didn't have much going on. she and i sat down a few days prior and came up with a plan...we were headed into the city!! (dc.)

i totally parallel parked this sucker. yes, i did.

 we started at the postal museum - all about the us mail system - very hands on and fun for kids!

 they are all in there :-)

 we were very impressed with the museum!

 there was a place where you could pick out a few stamps to bring home.

 then we walked next door (RIGHT next door) to Union Station. we walked around a bit, then ate lunch.

 pat bought both girls a sunflower (bailey's birthday is in 5 days...)

 we drove a mile or so away...and then walked to the Old Post Office Pavilion...

 rode ALL the way to the top and saw all the historic monuments and buildings you can see from up there.

it was such a fun adventure! and so awesome to do things like that...be gone for HOURS with NO stroller, NO diapers, no sippy cups, no messed up naps. ahhh....it's been a long time coming, it sure is sweet!

we had a little down time (i made a cake!) and then made pizza's for rebekah's birthday dinner. followed by RAINBOW cake!

 then we opened her gifts. EVERYONE had gotten a gift for her, so it was a really sweet time. we had gone to target earlier in the week and they got gifts for rebekah and bailey with their own money. sorry for all the pictures, but they are precious.

 youngest first (levi didn't get a gift...)

 he gave her a coupon organizer from the target dollar section :-)

  he got her a little wallet.

 she gave her peppermint gum. rebekah's FAVORITE.

 he gave her duct tape AND a dick's gift card - he insisted that he get a dick's gift card for her.

and we were able to get her a gift that she was NOT expecting and was SO excited about...(we also got her tennis shoes - now that they have to pay for half of their clothes, tennis shoes for a bday gift mean a lot more :-))

an itouch. that pat and i spent HOURS setting restrictions on and all sorts of things at night this week :-) we trust her. but not the internet! she had an ipod for a couple years...but it was lost/stolen on our road trip earlier this summer. as much as we've tried to fight electronics with our kids, we want to find the balance to let them know we trust them and not be "those parents" that live in the dark ages and never let their kids have any of "that stuff." we were so excited to give it to her! and she's been texting me ever since ;-)

rebekah, dad and i are so proud of who you are. we love who God has created you to be. our family is so special because you are in it. we love you. happy birthday!!

(looking forward to the last 1/3 of her life under our roof with hopeful expectation that it will keep getting better!! a teenager next year...yikes!)