We have a 13 year old in the house! It's actually not that hard to believe. Along with some of the typical negative teen "stuff", Bean is seeming really grown up lately, and in a lot of ways, it is fantastic (as long as I don't think too hard about the fact that the next 5 years are going to fly by). She works hard at improving herself, whatever she is going--swimming, writing, keeping her room organized--and she is so helpful with Peanut. Having a built-in babysitter has been awesome and we can see her accepting more responsibility all the time.
This year, her birthday celebration was a multi-day event. On Monday, Daddy-o took Bug, Bean, and her friend to Great America for a day of roller coasters.
From all reports, they had a great time and were able to ride things multiple times,
A came home with them and spent the night, which meant the girls got to spend Tuesday morning working on their Warriors stories and hanging out.
While they were gone, Peanut and I made and mint cookies'n'cream ice cream cake with a brownie base. We did her birthday dinner and the cake and ice cream celebration Tuesday night because she had other plans the next night.
Wednesday was the big day. Bean had requested her favorite rice pudding for breakfast and then we did gifts. And while she was really happy about all her presents, I think we really scored some parent points with tickets to see Imagine Dragons in October. We're pretty excited to take her to her first concert.
And then, in case Great America wasn't enough, Bean spent Wednesday evening at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk with the youth group from church. She had a lot of fun hanging out with friends and got to eat funnel cake, dippin' dots, curly fries, a dole whip, cotton candy, a churro, popcorn, and a doughnut. They pretty much got one of everything and then shared them.
I think she was pretty happy with 3 days of birthday celebrations. We felt like we got a glimpse into these upcoming years when she spent her birthday night with friends and we had to wait up past our bedtime for her to come home.
We love this Bean of ours and are so proud of who she is.
