Emily's sweet 16

Emily... yes my Emily turned 16 a few weeks ago. WOW! I still can't wrap my head around how fast that happened.  She was just 4, wasn't she?  NOPE! Well it sure feels like that.   lol.  We didn't have a big party for her this year.  We just didn't have the money. Nor and thankfully so did Emily "want" a big party, or a at least that's not the impression we got.  Instead we did a few things for her for her"big" day.  On her actual birthday Brian, Emily & I had cake and gave her our presents.  The big one was a trip to NYC (only about 2 hours from where we live) & tickets to the Broadway musical, "School of Rock". She also got a few smaller presents.  One being a blu ray of The Hunchback of Notre Dame! She is obsessed with all things Hunchback of Notre Dame.  She loves an UNDERDOG story and it's her favorite Disney movie! She was never really into the "princess" stories of Disney and feels like this one isn't about the princess and she's right.  But back to Emily's 16th birthday extravaganza...lol.  We asked some friends and family to help us celebrate Emily's birthday by going to Olive Garden.  Emily's choice.  So a week after her birthday we all got together there to continue the celebration! She was so happy she got to see everyone.  There ended up being 14 of us and I know Emily loved it!! Finally..... we had her day in NYC and the show was great!!!! It was awesome!  Even Brian enjoyed it and that's saying something because he's not really a "Broadway" kind of guy and he missed 1/2 of a Steelers game to go.  LOL! If you knew how important the Steelers are to him.  You'd understand just how much a big deal it is.  But.... his daughter obviously comes first.  New York was great, everything went smoothly--- we got in, found parking and went to lunch at Ellen's Stardust diner.  The have a singing wait staff, so it's really fun!  One of the greatest parts of the day happened there.  The food was ok and we were a little cramped in the not ideal setting of the Upper level BUT THEN they sang Emily's two ALL TIME favorite songs from Broadway.  One being from Les Miz and the other from Hunchback. It was crazy cause we were only there for like 45 minutes and they played her two favorites, that made her day!!! It could not have been more perfect.  She was so happy and just sang right along! It was fun seeing her enjoying herself so much.  Luckily for us the School of Rock theater was right next door.  We couldn't have planned it better!!  Like I said we all thoroughly enjoyed School of Rock.  Funny, and entertaining! A great pick!  Emily being an all things Broadway Buff was in her glory and she loved that it was a Andrew Lloyd Weber production!  After the show she even went to the back of the theater and met several in the cast and had them sign her program she had bought! She was most excited that she got to meet the star of the show that day.  Mr. Merritt David Janes who played Dewey Finn! He was the understudy but he was fantastic!!! He was really kind to Emily and even allowed her to take a few pics with him!!!! She was OVER THE MOON! It was a great day, and could not have went any better! I think Emily had the best time! Mission Accomplished! Happy 16th Birthday, Emily!!!!