Thirteen!

My little Emily girl is a teenager now. I'm not sure how that happened. The first birthday I had with her is when she turned seven. She wanted an American Girl doll...now she wants clothes. When I first met Emily she had two cute piggy tail braids and I marveled at how she could climb so high in a tree. I learned that there wasn't anything Emily couldn't do...she could and can keep up with her brothers with no problem at all. In fact, I felt like I needed to girl her up a bit...but not anymore...as you can see she is beautiful and is very much turning into a lady (except when I have to remind her to not lick the gravy off her plate or use a spoon instead of trying to drink her yogurt.)
Emily's birthday came on a really busy night of the week. Brandon had football, Emily had church volleyball, and Matt had church dodge ball. By the time we got around to the celebration it was pretty late. I did however steal her from school and we went to lunch earlier that day.
I can pretty much count on Emily for anything. She rarely complains (especially when I ask her weekend upon weekend to watch Ammon). She is really responsible and has a cute personality. She has great friends and makes good choices. What more could a parent ask for?
For Emily's birthday date we went and ate Chinese food and then went to a haunted house (her idea....definitely not mine). So, this was a haunted forest actually with creepy people jumping out and gross disgusting unrecognizable "things" around every corner. Yes I was scared, and yes Rob and Emily....I know the people aren't real but...
I was hanging on to Rob, ducking behind him with my eyes half shut. I was half laughing, half crying as my heart raced. I knew it would be bad because I can't even make myself go through the small haunted house that the young men put on for our annual Halloween carnival. Rob and Emily seemed like they were strolling thorough Disneyland so of course all the creepy people came after the one that looked like she was going to pee her pants. What I will do for my children!
See what I mean? This creepy person was just wandering around as we were waiting to get in. It was all I could do to get in the picture. It was fun, in a tortuous kind of way and the best part about it was spending the time with Emily. Happy Birthday girlfriend. I love you.