What Happened To My Baby??

Well it's official. Emile is now 14. Her birthday was October 18th so she's been 14 for a week now. I'm certain she's more "into" this than I am. Here are some recent highlights in her life.

To begin, two weeks ago was Homecoming. West York played York Catholic... we won by a score of 42/10. GO BULLDOGS!!! Following the game WGAL 8 was televising their Friday Night Football show from the school. That meant that even though the game was over by 9:30, the team, cheerleaders, band, etc. had to stay until after the show, which didn't even begin until 11:30. By the time all was said and done, it was well after midnight before everyone was packing up and heading home. Oh to be young again. I was tired just thinking about it.

The next evening was the Homecoming Dance. Emile was so excited that I was letting her go. She was going with a group of friends (escorted throughtout the evening by several parents) so I felt very comfortable with allowing her to go. There were the typical "preparations," such as hair, nails and getting dressed. Here we have an example of BEFORE.... S-C-A-R-Y!! Now it's the hair getting curled... Next Mom applies make-up... And Emile applies shoes... Before long... badda bing, badda boom... Here she is...

I couldn't believe how beautiful she was. Nor could I believe how much of a woman she had become. When did she grow out of diapers?? Wasn't that just yesterday?

Next step was to pick up her friend, Zach. He's on the football team, and they really are just friends (and right now I'm not even sure if they're even friends at all). Who knows with teens? Emile wanted Aunt Cindy to see how she looked so we headed there for pictures. Don't they look sooooooooo cute?
Following a brief visit with Cindy we headed for Cheeseburger In Paradise where the group was meeting for dinner. There were 6 girls and 2 guys. Can you say OUTNUMBERED! Those poor guys. The girls went on and on about make-up, nail, the whole getting ready thing. Yada yada yada.
The dance was pretty lame according to the kids. They did dance but said the music was bad. Oh well, it is what it is. I might mention they also said they'd do it again next year. Here's Carley, Emile and Sarah (l to r). And here's Emile and Kayla.

So, I survived Em's first Homecoming. Thank goodness she can't go to the Prom until she's a Junior. I'm not certain how I'd handle that one. I'm truly beginning to understand what my mom meant when she said time was flying by. Seems like every time I blink the girls are more grown up and ready to "leave the nest" a little sooner than perhaps I want... or am ready for. Again, what happened to my baby... the one I rocked in the middle of the night so long ago? It's bittersweet.