The Birthday Party and Growing Up....Again

Well, Rachel had a great birthday party. Her best friend for most of her life was there (Samantha), a boy she's known since preschool (Tony) and her boyfriend (Will) -her other friend, Kaitlyn, couldn't make it. We went to see Twilight - I found the movie a bit better than the book, but Rachel and one of her friends says no. I kept leaning over to Jay and whispering "Stalker!" when Edward the vampire was being.....well, a stalker! Anyway, we were at a place called Movie Tavern and they had pizza and popcorn to eat. Then we came back to our place for cake and everyone but the boyfriend (really, he's sweet as can be and they are more just like friends) is still here. They are walking around outside, probably talking about fantasy/sci-fi stories which they both enjoy. Rachel had fun and I loved seeing the smile on her face, which was constant, after all the stress we've had on us with the joblessness situation.

Every day, I see her growing up. Last weekend we had our church Christmas party, themed on It's a Wonderful Life. It was fun and wonderful, as always. Our committee that does the parties is always amazing and creative. Anyway, Santa always makes his appearance, too, toward the end of the night and every year, without fail, I take a picture of Rachel on Santa's lap. This year I asked her if she wanted to go see him and she said, "Ah, I don't think I will this year, Mama." I said that was okay and we headed on home (I was starting to get really sick that night anyway). But I also felt a little bit like crying. My baby is growing up so much and especially since she's moved from Primary at church to Young Women's. It's really propelled her to a more mature place. I love that and it also saddens me because she's my only baby and she's not so much that anymore. But she had a wonderful time at that party and today and making her happy still fills my heart more than I can say.