Solstice Run 2012

Emma ran in the10th annual Solstice run this morning. It was a beautiful, 70 degree morning, not too humid. Great weather for a 5K.

Here's the starting line, inside Northville Downs.

 Right before the race started she found her buddy Haley. It was a huge crowd, and we weren't sure she'd be able to connect with her. They are right in the middle here.

 Coming out of the Downs

 Ford Field and the finish line

 Almost at the end!

 Yea! They finished.

I don't know her exact time right now, but it was somewhere around 28:00.My dad heard them announce her name as she crossed the finish line, but I missed it. So proud of this girl!

Summer Dash

Emma ran her first 5K this morning. It was put on by her class to raise money for their prom in 2015. She signed up for it a week ago.

 Emma, Alyssa, Emma H., Nate

 stretching pre-race

 Addison & Emma

 Addison, Em, Kylie, & Emma

 The race staff

 I was stunned when Em was the third girl to round the bend. She didn't train for this, and started the morning off with nasty cramps. But there she was, pounding the pavement. In third place! She finished with a time of 25:54.

After the race with first place Megan, second place Addison, Nate, & Maddy.

So proud of our girl!

soccer girl

Tomorrow is the last game of Emma's freshman season.

Even though they didn't have a very winning season, there was quite a bit of good soccer. We all know the final score doesn't always tell the story of the game. Many games they dominated the entire 60 minutes, but lost by one lucky shot by the opponent. 

I'm a little sad to see it end.

Emma has become so confidant and strong. I love to watch her play. 

Here's a few shots during a game last week...

This one makes me laugh because this girl was all up on Em, and she was fed up. So when number 4 knocked her over, she screamed loudly. Like, startlingly loud. We were all "Who's kid is that??" After the game, she told us she did it on purpose, because the ref was making terrible calls and she wanted to make sure he heard/saw her get fouled. Hilarious.

I'm so excited to see what happens for her next year!

Go Mustangs!

In less than an hour, Emma will be playing in her first high school soccer game. I'm excited and nervous for her all at the same time. She knows how to play...she's been doing it for years. But this is something special, playing for your school. 

A year ago, she said never in a million years would she try out for the school team. The amount of confidence she's gained since then is incredible. And yesterday she got another boost; her coach told her that he's going to play her as left back, because most teams put their best forwards on the right, and he feels she is the best defender against this. How cool is that?

GO MUSTANGS!

Tinsel free!

We started the week like this...

...and ended it like this!

Finally! After nearly 2 full years of wearing braces, Miss Emma got them off on Wednesday. It was less painful than she had been led to believe ( a good thing!) It's a shame that she has to immediately cover them up with a retainer, but we'd like them to stay nice and straight. Her retainer is completely invisible, so except for a little bit of a lisp and extra shininess, you'd never know she has it on!

We are happy to see her beautiful smile back in action.

Best Christmas gift ever, for her!

Tomorrow we celebrate!

Tomorrow we celebrate Christmas with my dad & stepmom. Today has been a flurry of activity: baking 4 kinds of cookies, cards, wrapping, blogging (be sure to come back tomorrow for the Holiday Homes tour). I'm exhausted and everything hurts.

Tomorrow is also a huge day because Emma gets her braces off! She is over the moon happy right now. Counting down the hours.

And just because,

something cute.

NHS Christmas concert

This week Emma performed for three nights at her school's annual Christmas concert. We went on the middle night, the night she performed with both her regular choir and her Freshman select choir. The whole family went to support her and hear her sing.

The show was amazing. Northville High is #1 in the state in choir for a reason! It was two hours of beautiful holiday music. And because Emma likes surprises, she didn't tell us that she was going to have 4 solos. We were more than surprised!

(I apologize for the picture quality. Terrible!)

At the end of the concert all of the bands went onstage to sing the Hallelujah chorus, and everyone in the audience stood and sang along. It was very moving.

We are so proud of our songstress. She practiced every free minute and is so brave to sing on the stage in front of hundreds of people. Love you!!

The Reveal...Emma's room

Sorry to keep you waiting for the 'money shot' as my husband so lovingly called it. Between cloudy, rainy days,and teen messiness, the room was not suitable for photographing.

Here is the finished room!

The blinds will be replaced soon, hopefully. Emma keeps looking at curtains. She likes the expensive ones, naturally.

The rug took over a month to arrive, because Pottery Barn kept sending the wrong color. Like 3 times. Every time they messed up, Bart would call and they'd offer another discount. Hey, we like discounts!

The floor photographs very dark, but there is a lot of tonal variation throughout. I really like the dark wood...the main problem being dog hair. I vacuumed the room to take this photo and already I can see white hairs all over.

Lola thinks the rug is cozy! It's perfectly placed in a late day sunbeam :)

Thanks for all the kind words about our DIY project!

Emma's room redeux part 2

Here's the stripped down bare floor

Bart and my dad laying down the underlayment

Working across the room

Working in the closet

The finished floor

Evan & I went to his soccer game in the morning and by the time we came home, Bart & Emma had ripped up the carpet, pad and staples. Time to do the hard work!

The underlayment was tricky to work with. It is basically a moisture barrier, and only has one sticky edge on it. The trick is to lay it down and not overlap it, or to have any wrinkles, which was nearly impossible considering we had to walk on it.

Bart, Greg & my Dad started in front of the closet, alternating long & short boards, marking what needed to be cut. Emma was the runner, running pieces out to Bart's Dad who was manning the circular saw. I watched for awhile, and then Bart let me do the majority of the room. For anyone who knows my husband, this is a big deal. He never relinquishes control, and I usually just stand around. Not on this project! Of course he came back and finished it off and did the closet, but I was happy that I got to do some of the work too!

Emma's room redeux part 1

Sometime in the last 2 years, my 14 year old daughter has been bitten by the decorating bug. She watches all the shows on HGTV with her dad, and has very specific opinions about how things should look.

As if 14 year olds didn't have enough opinions.

She started nagging us for hardwood flooring in her room last year. We pretty much ignored her for as long as we could. Hardwood flooring is expensive. Time to install the floor was nonexistent. She kept on us though. Her Dad caved.

Here are some before pix of her room, with (according to her) the world's nastiest carpet. Girl, you sadly were too young to remember the really nasty stuff that was in this house when we moved here!

Tomorrow I will post pictures of the new and improved bedroom!

Homecoming

This past weekend was homecoming, Emma's first big event of High school.

Dress shopping was fun and painless...she found something she loved in three hours or less. She found some friends to go with and a place to dine, and was all set until the big day.

I may be a little biased, but I think she was the most beautiful girl in town.

Maxie came over to help with makeup and jewelry :)