Maddi Turns 12!

I know - I'm a few weeks behind... I think it has taken me this long to realize I have a 12  year old!  I'm not sure I am ready for this stage of life but I guess ready or not here it comes!  Maddi tuned 12 on the 21st of last month.  She was so excited for this birthday to come.  I think the biggest reason for her excitement was that she graduated from Primary and now gets to go to Youg Women.  For those of you who don't know, primary is our church's Sunday school class for all the kids under the age of 12.  Young Womens is a Sunday school type class for girls ages 12 -18.  Now she gets to go to church acitivitied every Wednesday night.  Some weeks it's just the girls who get together and some weeks they combine with the boys and do things.  She also gets to go to Stake activities every few months.  That is an acitivity that includes all boys and girls ages 12 -18 from towns all around in SD and MN.  They usually meet in Sioux Falls and enjoy a fun day together.  Anyways, she's excited to get to go with the older kids now!

She had a fun day celebrating.  She took chocolate covered cookie dough balls to school for a treat.  They had an early out that day so she was excited for that too.  She wanted baked potatoes for supper and a marble cake with green frosting for dessert.  She had also been wanting her hair colored so we did that the night before like we had done for Makenna.

 

She loves the new color and I think it look pretty cute too!  She also opened presents and seemed to be pleased with what she got.

She was excited to see 12 candles on her cake and if you look in the background you will see Kenna helping to blow out the candles :)





Maddi, too, has had a lot of changes this year.  We moved at the end of the school year and while she was excited to get to be closer to old friends, she was sad to leave her Wyoming friends behind and also her grandparents.  At the end of the summer, she faced another change with going to a new school without the friends she had planned on being with. It was tough but it didn't take long for her jump right in with both feet.  She has made friends and gotten involved and seems to be loving it.  She was on the volleyball team and they ended up 3rd in their tournament.  Now she is playing basketball and loves it!  She had speaking and solo parts in the school Christmas concert last week.  In church she earned her Faith in God award before leaivng Primary.  She is taking piano lessons.  She has over 400 AR points in her reading at school and is aiming to break the school record of around 1000 points! 

It is fun to watch her grow.  I am nervous about all that the teenage years will bring but I am excited to see her learn and progress.  She is a beautiful girl with so many wonderful qualitites and talents.  I am so proud of her and who she is becoming.  I remember when we first found out we were having a little girl.  We couldn't wait for her to get here.  She has always been such a good little girl and now she is changing into a beautiful young woman.  The joy we felt the day she was born is still felt each day.