Can it be true?

As I told my friend in church today, "It feels like I've just turned a page in life."  Am I being a bit dramatic?  Maybe.  But my baby is turning 13 and it's kind of a big deal.  People told me all the time when I just had little ones to enjoy them because they grow up so quickly.  It took a really long time for the reality of that to sink in.  There are so many long and difficult stages of parenting and there are times when it feels like those moments will never end.  Though I know that Steve and I have many, many years of intense parenting ahead of us with this crowd of ours, having my firstborn be 13 feels like I am seeing something that I haven't really seen before.  There will be an end.  They do grow up.

Though as an adult I know that 13 is still really just a kid, there are so many ways in which I see my girl growing up.  She's been starting to say things like, "When I was little..."  I'm thinking in my mind, 'Aren't you still little??'  She's starting to talk about where she wants to go to college, what she wants her house to be like, all these things that little girls don't really talk about.  It's crazy.

13 is another year that we have a big party for our kids.  I came up with a plan this past winter and was thrilled when Claudia liked the idea as much as I did.  Instead of having a big party, she picked a couple close friends and we went to the beach for the day.  We went a few weeks ago before everyone was back in school.  We really and truly had a perfect day.  The weather was insanely beautiful and the girls had so much fun together.  What a treat for me to hang out with them for the day.

I didn't take too many pics, just a couple of group shots.  The girls were in the water the whole entire day, except for when a few jellyfish were spotted!!

I snapped this picture of my girl before church this morning.  Happy Birthday dear Claudia!!