12 is the new 13

Jillian (aka Bean) turned 12 this month. She also turned into a teenager. Oh boy. Let the up and down emotions begin! Fortunately Kara is several years younger, so we'll only have one teenage girl in the house for a long time. My apologies to my parents.

Jillian is a wonderful daughter. She is very talented, creative, and dependable. She does her homework with little prompting and is always making something with art supplies. She's also 5'3 now, and recently handed down a pair of her shoes to me. They are a little big.

We took some friends bowling for her birthday. It was a fun and easy party. Since Jillian, like me, doesn't prefer cake, we had cake batter waffles with friends on her birthday. We also went out to lunch, had a yummy pasta dinner, and played a lot of games.

Some photos from her bowling party:

I love my Jilly Bean! I hope she continues to love me over the next several years.