Claudia's birthday

Claudia also had a pretty low key birthday this year.  Her good friend Rachel came for the day.  We spent some time in the creek which is a favorite thing to do and unfortunately hasn't happened too much this year.  Claudia's request for her b-day meal was beef and broccoli stir-fry and oreo ice cream dessert.  Since she had her braces on just days before we decided to make it a little more metal-mouth-friendly.  We settled on cheesy potato soup, homemade bread, and oreo milkshakes.

Funny little story about the creek.  I really love going down there, it's super relaxing for me.  It's especially fun where there are no little ones to keep track of.  The big girls were playing in the water and I decided to chill on the rocks.  I laid down and got as comfy as I could.  As I was laying there enjoying the peace and quiet I began thinking of all the animals that could potentially be crawling on or close to me.  I did my best to ignore my freakish thoughts and actually dozed off for a couple of minutes.  I heard the girls calling my name (they were about 50 yards away in the water).  I ignored them on the first 2 yells and then after the 3rd I sat up to see what they wanted.  They were all pointing behind me.  I turned around to see a large German shepherd looming about 5 feet away from my head.  Oh. My. Word.  I was so startled.  Can you imagine if they girls would not have seen the dog and he would have come and licked my face while I was laying there??  I think I would have died of a heart attack!

The girls say they are opposite friends: tall/short.  Blond/brunette.  Dark skin/light skin.  Opposite in looks but such a good match as friends!!  :)  

So anyway, back to the birthday.  For Claudia's gift this year, Steve and I decided that I would take her away on an overnight.  I went round and round about where to take her and decided to go up to Lititz.  It is a very sweet little town about 45 minutes away from here.  My good friend Jolynn's parents live there and are super hospitable.  They were very kind to allow us to stay there and I saved a few $$ by not having to rent a hotel room.  They live just a few blocks from downtown and I knew Claudia would love to be able to walk to stores and restaurants.

Opening her card from us saying what her gift was.

We left Monday afternoon and did some shopping and then headed up to Lititz.  Claudia could not believe that I did not bring my camera and I was so bummed that I didn't!  I didn't figure I would want to be carrying it around but I am sad that I did not get a shot of us together on our time away.  It was fun to be with just her (Josiah was along but dear Ruth Ann took care of him a number of different times so we could have some alone time!!).  My girl is getting so big I can hardly stand it.

One of her highlights was finding a little store that had a craft room in the back.  You paid for every half hour you were in there but could use all the supplies.  She had a blast making a little collage of pretty things.

When we gave her this as a gift I was hoping that she would not be disappointed that she wouldn't have a gift to open on her birthday.  Yesterday as we were walking around and shopping she said, "Mom, can we make this a tradition to do every year for my birthday??"  I'm glad she had such a fun time.

Love you sweet 12 year old girl!