Twelve already!

We had to celebrate Willa's birthday before we left for vacation, since we would be gone on her actual day.  She invited three of her best school friends over for pizza, Jones cream sodas, dancing to Brittany Spears music (taught and led by her ultra-fun sisters), and a movie Wyatt and I were emphatically uninvited to watch.  On the actual day of her birth, we took her snorkeling.  And I kept trying to tell her the story of her birth.  And she kept cutting me off.  Her dad told her he would take her to do what she really wanted to do for her birthday when we got home--horseback riding.

Here are twelve of the best things about Willa right now:

1. She loves to sing and has a beautiful voice.  Right now she is taking voice lessons from the superstar who is my Primary chorister.
2. She chooses good friends.   I loved the girls she invited to her party.  And she is friends with great kids at church, and has fun texting a really nice boy who is NOT her boyfriend.
3. She is CREATIVE!  Her favorite store is Michael's, and she regularly shows us websites she has designed, power point presentations she made for fun, ideas for projects she wants to make, and artwork she relishes making in school.
4. She still hugs me like she means it and wants to hang out with me regularly.
5. She has excellent taste in entertainment.  Her book picks are always spot on, and she finds TV shows that she and Wyatt both think are great.
6. She reads music like a champ, which comes in very handy for learning new songs for the school musical (she got the female lead) and winging it at piano lessons when she has forgotten to practice.
7. She is brilliant in school.  Of course.  What else can we say?
8. She is developing her own sense of style and comes up with cute outfits and hairdos regularly.
9. She is good and sweet to her center.  She has plenty of spice to make life fun and interesting, but she deeply wants to do good and be good.
10. She has great foresight.  She comes up with good plans for what she (and we!) should do well in advance.
11. She gets things done independently.  She wakes herself up and gets ready for her early morning math class without any help.  She takes care of her schoolwork on her own, and she can make us dinner or take care of the dog or anything else she decides needs to be done.
12. She loves soccer.  (We finally got one that does!)  She is looking forward to practices and games starting this week.  We are looking forward to seeing her toughness on the field.  She is great at knowing where she needs to be and getting there at the right time.