Allie morphs into a tweenager

Even though Allie turned twelve 2 months ago, and has been showing hints of a teenager attitude from time to time, for the most part she has stayed my sweet little Allie.  This week, her facade took a dramatic step towards looking more like a teenager with the addition of braces.  She just looks so much more grown up now!  It just seems to me that she went into middle school and grew up overnight.  On Thursday, the braces were put on.  I feel so blessed.  I was a little worried that they would be hurting her for tests on Friday and distracting her.  But all of her tests were on Thursday.  Despite the fact that the braces were already on, they weren't hurting yet, and she was able to do well on her tests.  Everything is going well.