Licensed to Drive!

Well, the long awaited day finally arrived!  Lia turned 16 today AND got her driver's license!  Since all of her big birthday plans are not until this weekend, we thought that checking her out of school during choir class today to go to the DOL to get her driver's license would help make this milestone birthday seem a little more special.  So, I scheduled her driving test for February 20th and made an appointment at the DOL on her birthday, crossing my fingers that Lia would pass her test so that we could go on this exciting outing today!  Luckily, Lia passed her driving test two days ago with flying colors with a score of 96%.  So, Emmett and I were able to pick her up at school this morning to make it to her 11 o'clock appointment in Tacoma on time.  Thanks to the ability to schedule an appointment in advance, we only had to wait a few minutes before we were called up to the front.  We were in and out of the DOL in less than 30 minutes which was just amazing!  Lia was so excited that I insisted we take a picture of her with Emmett outside of the DOL with her temporary license (which is the piece of paper that she is holding in her hand). 

After dropping her back off at school, Lia finished off the school day and then had a 3-hour, musical rehearsal for Bye Bye Birdie until 6 p.m.  Ron picked her up from school and brought her back home where I had a Chic-fil-A dinner waiting to eat, par Lia's request.  Lia then finished off her birthday evening with an extra special surprise, a box of SIX Crumbl cookies that were delivered to our home, courtesy of Uncle Brent (aka, Uncle Cookie).  Lia and Brent have had an ongoing joke for almost her entire life about cookies, and when he found out that she wasn't having a dessert on her actual birthday, he did some research and placed an order for these delicious cookies to be delivered to our front door.  Needless to say, it was such a fun surprise and thoughtful gift, and totally made her birthday!  Thanks, Uncle Cookie!

Lia and Emmett standing together outside of the Department of Licensing office with Lia proudly holding up her temporary driver's license.

Although we bought our "kid car" at the beginning of January, I have never included a picture of it in a post.  So, here is a picture of Lia driving away in our Ford Focus for the first time after we bought it.  She has already named this cute car, "Marble," and will hopefully spend the next 2.5 years safely driving around town in it, making many memories along the way!

Lia and Emmett showing off the pretty pink box of Crumbl cookies that Uncle Brent sent to our house.

Thanks to Brent's suggestion, we put a candle in one of the cookies and sang, "Happy Birthday" to her after dinner was done.