babybloomr

Charlotte turned 14 on July 17th. We had a little family party to celebrate before Russ left for that weekend’s concerts, and then Char also made plans to have two of her best friends from grade school, Bethany and Jess (aka “jd2008″ when he comments on here!) come over for a little party last Friday night.

The original idea was to head to Watertown and go to the Stardust Drive-in, which is one of our favorite things to do– however, we failed to factor in two important issues: 1) they CHANGE the movies on Friday, so the one we had planned on seeing was no longer showing and 2) it was about a frillion stinkin’ degrees that day, with about a 1000% humidity and the heat index of… hell. Not the optimum conditions for watching a movie while sitting in your car OUTSIDE.

I briefly scrambled around trying to quickly come up with a Plan B, and then I realized that the three amigos were actually perfectly happy just hanging out here. So I made a quick grocery run and loaded up on a staggeringly ridiculous array of snack food, picked up some take-out food from Charlotte’s favorite place, Pei Wei, and got them all settled in for the evening. No outdoor movie. Bullet dodged.

They had so much fun! It’s been a while since they have been together because they are all going to different schools now, but back at good ol’ St. Paul Christian Academy they were inseparable. It was great to watch them — after just a couple of minutes of understandably age-appropriate awkwardness, they basically took up where they left off.

Here’s a couple of shots from Hour #1:

Hour #2 involved a lot of eating. Loads of lo mein and then a virtual avalanche of rice krispie treats, white cheddar popcorn, sparkling grape juice, chex mix and… well, I kinda lost count at that point. Teenagers can flat put it away.

But here’s the best part: Why hello there, CUPCAKES!!!

Prepare yourself for the glory that is Naticakes…

And yes, they were TOTALLY as good as they look!

(This is a great bakery– it’s located in the heart of historic downtown Franklin, Tn, which is only about 15 minutes from my house, and there’s a real heartwarming story behind the name “naticakes.” Check it out, it’s worth it.)

“They grow up so fast…”

That expression has become a punch line in our house. It started years ago when a very young Charlotte shook her head and made the pronouncement while looking down at her black and white Pomeranian puppy Phoebe. I can’t remember exactly what Phoebe did that prompted it, but Charlo said it with a fake choked sob and just the right degree of parental wistfulness in her voice, and then waited for our reaction because she knew it was funny. And it was! Since then we have used that phrase on each other in all kinds of situations– I can recall it being employed by Madi while bra shopping with her sister, and by me when Russ got his first laptop. But lately?

Not so funny.

Madi just turned 18, and Charlotte just turned 14. I’ll give us all just a minute to let that sink in.

Honestly, this is crazy; five minutes ago I was walking Madi into preschool while balancing Charlotte on my hip. Now it seems like all of a sudden we are talking about things like college and cars and jobs, and frankly, it is kind of horrifying. I mean, I know it is the natural progression of things, blah blah blah, and I SWEAR I’m not planning on hanging on to Madi’s ankles and being dragged across the driveway as she leaves for college. (I didn’t say it won’t happen, just that I’m not planning on it.) It’s not that I don’t want them to grow up, it’s just that… Well, OK, maybe it IS that I don’t want them to grow up. Every year since the girls were born I have happily claimed that whatever age they are is “my favorite age,” and 18 and 14 are no exception. I’m not looking for a time machine to zap them back into adorable toddlers, I’d settle for them just staying where they are now. Indefinitely. Because I really love having them around, I really love the four us being this little family unit hanging out together, going to movies, eating out on the deck, laughing with (and at) each other. I’m not ready for that dynamic to change just yet, so if we could freeze-frame this next year and maybe do one of those ‘Groundhog Day’ things where we just keep reliving it, I would be fine with that. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all in favor of them leaving the nest and starting their own lives. Eventually. I am just going to need some time to get used to the idea. Like, maybe another 10 years or so.

Apparently I still have some work to do with that whole (making air quotes with my fingers) “letting go” thing.

Dang. They grow up so fast.