For example.  Here is a rather “boring” egg sandwich.  A staple in our house.  This is what Corey and I had for lunch together the other day.  The reason it is on the celebrate plate is because he got a new job and got the news just minutes before.  He talked about how special getting the plate out was days later. ;D

When you want to make a statement…or just be noticed.  I recommend these…

Real love is sitting at a concert waiting for your child to perform…and you have to sit thru the entire thing because they are LAST.  Not to take away from the other kids.  But let’s be real.  I just wanted to see Ava perform.  Yes.  That selfish part of me.  The nervous wreck part of me.  The part of me that wanted her part to be done so I could relax and enjoy the rest.  Self admittedly I am quite possibly the worst person for saying that.  But admit it.  You feel it too.  At least from time to time. ;D

I don’t have a photo to describe this…but lately it has been a stream of hormones and emotions and first boyfriends, talking on the phone, fighting to get homework done, failing grades, forgetfulness, sassy mouths, more hormones, more fighting…between all of us…and a host of other things.  And no one is a teenager yet.  There are days when weary is a very good explanation of how I feel.  And I think…the worst is yet to come.

Just to add some humor…Here’s what the kids do to Baxter when he sits still long enough.

Lastly…this year’s birth-a-versary present.  To know what I’m referring to see this post.  Corey got me this…

This is the iPod Classic.  No I don’t like any other version of the iPod.  Except this one.  It is so not new anymore they refer to it as the “Classic”.  I think it is more expensive than the iPod Touch.   Oy!  Don’t call me old…I’d rather think of myself as “retro”. That’s “in”, right?  Anyway…I’ve wanted one of these suckers since they came out.  Thank you, Honey!  We’ve been married 18 years this month btw. ;D

Does everything go perfectly?  I could write all about the good stuff and never the bad.  But as it was put to me recently, “Why lie?” ;D  Jeni…I’m thinking of you sweetie!

As a parent you try to set everything up so your kid does well but there are just some things you just can’t foresee.  Like…

When they get up on stage and are all ready for their part…and they don’t have a key ingredient for playing their instrument…a bow.

Oy.

And you have to watch in agony as they just sit there with the rest of the orchestra playing.

And your child is not.

And they have worked for weeks and weeks on this.

I was sick inside.  But I’m also a do-er.  As in I cannot just sit there and watch things go down, especially where my kids are concerned, and do nothing.  I just can’t.

So in between numbers she looks down at me and I’m like mouthing, “Where’s your bow?”  And she points to the conductor and mouths, “In Mr. P__’s room.”  I knew they weren’t done yet and it was worth at least investigating to see if I could find it and get it to her.

So I went looking.  I found it.  Went back stage and had a student deliver it to her in between songs.

She was able to finish with it.

All that said…not to take away from anyone else because Ava was, I’m sure, nervous as this was her first performance ever and I’m sure that played into forgetting an important part of her instrument…the concert was absolutely wonderful.  I’m so impressed with every kid!  Wow.

Even my kid.  When she realized what she had done she didn’t freak.  She had desperation written all over her face but she just sat there like she knew what she was doing and acted all professional.  She plucked when she could and just didn’t bow…until I got it to her.  There wasn’t too long of a time ago she would have slumped down and pouted and just been an absolute…well jerk.  And stayed that way.  All night. ;D  She has really pulled herself together recently.

Sometimes. ;D

The girls’ school had their annual Fall Festival.  Laney was so excited.  Every five minutes she kept asking if we were going.  “Is it time yet?”  The cutest part was she was saying “festible” instead of “festival”.  It made me smile every time! ;D

It’s not like cooking something on the stove.  You can test it as you go.  You can season it if it doesn’t taste right.  Add a little of this and a little of that.

I feel like raising kids is more like baking.  Except…they didn’t come with a recipe…  You roughly know you are making something…say a cake.  You add the basic stuff…flour, sugar and all that.  But what if you forget to add baking powder?  Or what if you add too much?  Or not enough?  See what I’m getting at?  You aren’t gonna know if it is gonna turn out right until you BAKE it.

Sometimes I feel like we are taking mini test runs.  Like today.  I feel like I’m letting them go.  A little bit each day.  When I do that I hope and pray I’m putting the right stuff in there…the stuff they need to make it through the day…through life.  Ava had a HUGE report due today.  I dropped her off at school on the sidewalk, cause we were running a little late, and watched her walk in with this big poster board and watching her growing up in front of me with each step she took away from me.

I gave her the poster and she took it and then saw one of her classmates walking in with something similar.  She took off barely saying goodbye.  I could have taken offense.  After all I practically did the whole thing for her.  I mean really.  What on earth does the school expect from 4th grade?  The funny thing was…one of the pieces came off in her desperation to catch up.  She stopped and picked it up.  I hadn’t stopped watching her.  I hadn’t gotten back in the car.  I was waiting for her to get all the way in to school.  To make sure she was ok.  To no one but me did she look to when she needed help.  She looked back.  I gave her a thumbs up and said just put it back in when you get in!  She smiled and went running on in to school.

I’ve been praying all morning that she will do well with her presentation.  That she won’t be nervous and that she will do well.  But again.  It’s like baking.  You won’t know until you put everything in the pan, mix it well, and put it in the oven to bake for awhile.  Sometimes even then its not enough.  I’ve just got to let go and hope that I did what I could and trust that God will take care of everything.  It’s scary to put the cake in the oven…what if I forgot something?  At that point it is out of my hands.  Letting go is soooooo hard!  BUT…watching the emerging beautiful cake…it’s SOOOOO WORTH IT!

Or it could be talking with the girls about the things going on in their lives and me relating stories to them about when I was in school.  They LOVE THAT!  It always seems to happen when I’m driving them to school.  I love driving them to school and picking them up.  It gives me a chance to “check in” with them and see what’s going on at school and stuff.  I find out the greatest stuff!  I’m enjoying it because I fear one day when they turn teenager on me they will clam up.  But for now I get the skinny on a lot of stuff.  Lately the conversations have been mostly about boys.  And how weird they are.  Cause let’s just face it…they are!  ;D

Both of them have had some “issues” with boys at school recently…nothing too major…but just boys being mean or whatever.  So I told them one day…”You know if a boy likes you then he usually is mean to you.”  The girls eyes got big as saucers!  There have been example after example of how that has been true.  One boy did something to Ava that landed him in the principal’s office and the principal told her, “Boys are so strange.  When they like you they beat you up.”  She was like, “That’s what my mom says!” ;D

The girls asked me, “Mom?  When you met Dad was he weird?”

“Yes!  He didn’t straighten up until about 25!”

They laughed and laughed.

Laney has been having a tough go of it with a little boy in her class.  He won’t leave her alone.  He’s to the point where he doesn’t want her to do anything but play with him and hang out with him and be friends with ONLY him.  He whispers to her in class everyday….“Laney.  Laney.  Laney.  Laney.” When she says, “What!”  He just says, “hi!”

“Mom he’s so annoying I can’t get anything done!!!!”

I know.  Big drama.  But it IS if you are her.

This morning on the way to school I told them about a boy in school that liked me just like this boy likes Laney.  Soon Laney’s story wasn’t as interesting as my story and they wanted to know all about it.  “This is COOL!”

I’ve noticed in parenting that all my girls want to know is…did that kind of stuff happen to me and what did I do as a kid?  And sometimes…there is no resolution…at least not one I can think of.  OR we think of one together.  OR they think of something after I tell them all about my childhood woes. ;D  Either way…we get a great laugh out of it…and it draws us closer together.  I’m sure when I pick them up today there will be more about what happened with this boy.  And they will wanna know more about what I did when I was in the same situation.  I don’t mind telling them.

Last night it was pretty cool.  Finally cool enough (I mean in the 50′s vs 80′s at night) to enjoy a fire in the pot belly stove and make s’mores. ;D

Since I got such grief for not including a photo of  my new “do”…here ya go, Wendy. ;D  You know how I LOVE to include photos of myself.  Oy!

And then lastly…we had Grandparents Day at school on Friday.  It is extremely popular.  Only.  In past years each class has performed something as well as individual kids.  Not so this year.  It was just individual performances.  Neither of the girls had anything planned.  They were upset about it.  I’m like, “Let’s just take Grandma to lunch!”  Yeah.  Way more fun.  So glad we did!

Oh…for those wondering…I think I’m getting over my cold.  House is pretty clean.  Laundry is done.  Grocery shopping is done.  I might just be ready to head to the hospital. ;D

I was working on a layout today.  Using some more stuff from Oscraps. ;D  This is one of my favorite photos from our vacation to Moab.

Layout credits here.

And this is what we woke up to this morning.  It is by no means done yet!!! ;D

The kids had a snow day today.  I don’t remember having one this early in the season since we have lived here.  We don’t usually get snow like this before Halloween.  I guess we ARE in for a snowy winter…that’s what everyone has been saying! ;D

My laptop has been acting up for awhile now.  The video card is going bad in it and it is going to have to go back to Dell soon.  So in an attempt to get used to this idea…bwah ha ha ha!…I am learning to sit at the desktop computer.  Oh the horror! ;D Last night I was making sure Photoshop and Bridge worked but I didn’t have any of my files on here yet.  Yes, I am sitting at the desktop right now!  So I was looking for any kind of photo that I could open and manipulate in PS.  There wasn’t much…but what I did find made me smile!  I found a file of Ava’s photos from when she had a working camera.  She is actually an excellent photographer…I’ve said it before.  I found some great, great photos she had taken.  Some I had never ever seen before.  I have to share this one with you.  It is from 2006!

So imagine my surprise when Laney gets into the car the other day with the contents of the box…after the class was done sharing…to say that she wasn’t allowed to share the food items because some kids might be allergic.  When you were a kid do you remember there being as many food allergies as there are today???  I don’t.  Maybe I’m remembering it wrong I don’t know.  It was devastating to Laney and upsetting to me.  Even though I understand the reasons.  They have class parties all the time and food served in there.  Sigh. If you have a child with allergies you probably appreciate this but when you don’t its not fun either.

So…..THANK YOU Jeni for your thoughtfulness!  It was awesome to have food items in there.  We enjoyed them today…here at home.  Laney loved, loved, loved the blueberry jam!

Laney came home from school today and told me she was reading a chapter book at school.  She said it was in her desk.  I asked her what it was and she said it was a Jack and Annie book.  These are the books that Ava is reading.  So I was a little skeptical.  She assured me she could.  So I told her to grab one of Ava’s Jack and Annie books and read some of it to me.  So she did.  And she can!  On big words she has to sound them out but she can do it!  So then I thought, sure she can read it but can she comprehend what she is reading?  So I asked her, “Ok, Laney.  What is happening on this page?”  And she told me.  I waited a few more pages.  I asked her again.  She was able to tell me.  I was very, very proud. ;D