::My 12th Birthday::

::Hello. Here is the post about my birthday that I should have promised in my last post. My birthday started with sleeping in until 8:00 or 8:30. When I came downstairs Dad was busy making the waffles I had requested for earlier. The Van Dyk birthday tradition is we get to chose all three meals for our special day. So I chose waffles. Before we ate I opened my presents. It had three parts. For the first part, I got a sleepover guide for 4 year olds that me and my friends can have fun with being dorky and pretending we're little kids. Part number two was a pair of chopsticks someone from my dad's work brought back from China. Part three was The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan. It's the latest of the series The Heroes of Olympus. After we had finished our waffles with whipped cream and berries, Dad left for work, and me and Mom started to clean up a bit. Once all everything was put away and cleaned up, we got ready to go to Grammie's house. We picked up Aunty Karin on our way because we were going to make our own Christmas Crackers. It was an experiment that Mom wanted to try because she wanted better little gifts inside of it and she thought making them would be fun. So far it's going great. I would say what some of the adults got but some of them might be reading this post. The girls are getting green wrappers with sparkly white reindeer and the boys are getting red wrappers with little tin soldiers with green suits all over. I don't know what the kids are getting. Me and Gabe ran down to Bread By Us and some pastries and cookies. At 1:00 dad came and picked up the kids(Gabe, Lij, and baby) and Aunty Karin and Sarah. I finished eating and me and Mom started on my birthday outing. First up was the Bibles for Missions thrift store that Oma works because she had a cad for me. Then we went to a theatrical/dance store called Malabar where I got a new leotard. It is blue with designs on the front and back. I love it. After that we went to a few stores and then we went to an awesome sushi place called  Hockey Sushi. Hockey Sushi is my favourite place for sushi and other fishy foods. Whoever likes seafood should check it out. Then we made a quick stop at  My Sister's Closet before going home. then we went to bible study at Samantha and Eric's house. I got to hold Teddy for the first time. That was my birthday. Here is today's Tip to remember or you'll regret it. Don't eat to much seafood. Have a good rest of the week and I will write to you in a week or so. Bye!!::