The Week in Review....

This week got off to a bit of a rough start as Brie came down with a cold and missed the first two days of school. Our poor girl, normally a bundle of energy, spent two days on the couch feeling miserable. She is mostly back to her perky self with one exception...her nighttime cough is keeping her (and the rest of us!) up at night. We'll all be very, very happy when the cough is finally gone and we can sleep through the night again! We have yet to find a cough medication that really helps either of the girls when they get a bad cough.

A did well in her track meet this week, placing 3rd in the 800m and 4th in the mile. She was happy with her results. She also turned in two major projects at school and is very happy to be finished with both of those. She's ready for a break from school and is hoping to catch up on her sleep this week and Mark and the girls have spring break this week. Yea! (Personally, I don't think it's fair that they all get to sleep in but I still have to get up early and go to work....*pout*).

We got our new dining table on Monday and it's lovely -- we're thrilled with it! When we built our home, the dining room was the playroom -- literally -- filled with toys and books and games and art supplies. A couple of years ago we decided we really didn't need a toy room anymore and we moved our dining table and chairs into the room...but it wasn't until this week that I feel like we fully graduated from the playroom to a "real" dining room. We bought a new light fixture for the room yesterday and Mark hung it last night. All that's left is to touch up some of the paint, pick out a few favorite family pictures to frame and hang, and find something to hang on one other wall. I saw a framed "Proclamation to the World" in an ad this week and I'm thinking I might order that. I'm excited about the room -- it's the most peaceful spot in our house now and it has inspired me to really work on decluttering and fixing up the rest of the house. I'd better work fast before I ose the desire to work on it!

The new dining table/chairs and light:





The highlight of my week, though, was the General YW Broadcast last night. It was really wonderful. Sis. Dalton made a really cute comment -- looking out on the assembled congregation, she said that "this is what the stripling warriors' girlfriends must have looked like!" That was so cute. I also loved her emphasis on "deep beauty" -- that it comes from within, from righteousness and purity and courage and doing the right thing and knowing who you are, and that no makeup, plastic surgery, or worldy beauty regime could achieve that. She is so right. And I loved Pres. Uchtdorf's talk. It was just what I needed to hear. He talked about fairy tales and how we all want our "happily ever after"...but after "once upon a time" begins the story, the hero or heroine of the fairy tales always has to go through trials and struggles and overcome something in order to get to that "happily ever after" -- Cinderella had a wicked stepmother and mean stepsisters, Sleeping Beauty was poisoned, Belle was imprisoned and separated from her beloved father for several months, etc. But they persevered and overcame and achieved their "happily ever after"...and we need to persevere and overcome and then Heavenly Father will bless us with the most wonderful "happily ever after" that can be imagined. I loved his talk and will definitely be printing a copy of it to read and reread, as soon as it's available online.

I also celebrated my birthday today and I have been touched by the birthday wishes from my dear family and friends. While I don't enjoy getting older, it makes me feel special to be remembered. So thank you all!!

Pathetic...

I really do have good intentions when it comes to blogging. I really do... But then things come up, life happens, and I tell myself "I'll do it tomorrow." And then tomorrow brings more of the same and the blogging slips to the bottom of my ever-growing to-do list. (I think to-do lists have a way of magically growing and growing despite my best efforts to accomplish the items on the list!)

Two of my friends have recently started blogging, though, and they have inspired me to try harder. Knowing myself, though, and how obsessed I can get with things, I have found that I need to exercise moderation. To that end, my new goal is to blog either on Saturday or Sunday each week and post about the things that have happened that week. I hope I will be able to keep up with it this way...I tend to be more successful when I take things in more manageable pieces.

So what's new and exciting in our lives right now? B's soccer team played in a tournament in Florida last weekend and they won their age division! They were so excited. The team has been really great about B not playing or even attending games on Sunday and we appreciate that. This is the first tournament they've won in B's four seasons with the team and it was pretty exciting. Today she is participating in the county Honor Choir so we'll be going to her concert this afternoon. A is staying busy with school and track...she ran her personal best time in the mile in a meet earlier this week. She works so hard on her schoolwork and we were thrilled to find out that she is currently ranked second in her entire class at school. At this very moment, she's laying on the floor next to me working on her AP World History homework. Right now we're trying to decide what schools the girls will attend next year. Hard decisions!

It looks we're going to buy a new dining table and chairs. We've had our current table and chairs since we got married (it was the first furniture we ever bought -- we used money we received as a wedding gift) and I'm a bit sentimental about it...but it's time. That poor table is rather wobbly and the chairs desperately need to be reupholstered again. After 18 years, I think it's time to retire them. I've found a lovely set that I really like and hopefully we'll be buying it today.

Earlier this week I finished the book "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society." My sister Melissa recommended it and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I love strong, fiesty female main characters. While I usually have a great deal of difficulty reading anything about World War II and Nazis and concentration camps, I found that I was able to read this book with no trouble at all...I think because the concentration camps are really not the focus of the books in a way that forces you to put full attention on them. It's hard to explain why I have such trouble with that kind of subject matter. I'm not sure I really understand myself. Anyway, the book was such fun to read -- I highly recommend it!

Spring is finally upon us, with blooming daffodils and trees. The temperatures are warming up and the dogs want to spend more and more time outside. I love the sunshine!

Oops, I Did it Again....

Forgot to update my blog. Let life get away from me. Neglected to keep my five readers filled in on our life. Sorry! I really do have good intentions...but I'm the Queen of Procrastination. I have perfected the art. And when you get really, really good at procrastinating, then things just don't get done. I'm pretty good at that. Just take a look at my house.

So what has been going on in our family since school began (almost 3 months ago...yes, I know...it's been a while)? A has been running cross country and she absolutely loves it. She placed in the top 10 in the county and will be running in the state meet next weekend. She is excelling in all of her classes (100 in everything but Spanish III) and was nominated for the Georgia Governor's Honors Program (open only to 10th and 11th grade gifted students who are nominated by their teachers) in four subjects. Four!! Unfortunately, the students can only select one nomination to pursue and so she is pursuing the math nomination. If it wasn't for the fact that she looks exactly like her Daddy's side of the family, I would swear that she wasn't my child...that she must have been switched at birth...because I can't even add correctly with a calculator. She amazes me with her math ability. Mainly, I am amazed because it all makes sense to her. "Rational numbers"? Sorry, but in my mind there is nothing rational at all about numbers. She is staying busy with school, cross country, and church. She hasn't had as much time for friends and socializing as she would like in the last couple of months between homework and cross country. But she's doing great.

B's soccer season is almost over. She is playing on the U-11 Academy Girls A team and, since we don't have an Academy U-12 girls' team, her team is playing U-12 teams from around the state. There have been some losses this season but they're doing pretty well at holding their own aginst older and bigger (in some cases, much bigger) girls. She loves soccer! The season ends in a few weeks and then we have a little bit of time off before spring season starts. She is also excelling in school and has really impressed her teacher with her writing ability. She had so much fun trick or treating with some of her soccer teammates last night! She is growing up so fast...

M is staying busy, too. Softball season is over, although it didn't go as well as he would have liked. Basketball tryouts started last week and so now he's focused on basketball. We don't get much of a break from sports in our home!

And I'm staying busy, too. Unfortunately, B caught a cold a few weeks ago and passed it on to me -- 3 1/2 weeks later, I still can't get rid of it. It's pretty miserable.

I took the girls to Disney World in October to go to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party -- a mother/daughters weekend. We had so much fun (even though we got a little lost on the way down and the way back -- darn GPS!). We had so much fun at the party and got to ride every ride we wanted without waiting (I think we waited 15 minutes for one ride, but that was it)...lots of trick or treating, and the decorations were amazing. We're already talking about going back next year. We went to both Disney water parks (loved them) and met up with some friends while we were down there. Grandma and Papa went to Disney World the same weekend so we were able to meet up with them and show them around Downtown Disney. We had a great time. The only downside was the heat wave -- it was over 90 degrees the night of the party, with no breeze. It was HOT, HOT, HOT. But we loved it and can't wait to go back for another Halloween Party.

It's hard to believe summer is over and fall is here. We have apples going in the dehydrator and we're going to make homemade applesauce. The weather is changing and the leaves are turning. Thanksgiving will be upon us in just a few weeks...before we know it. I need to take more time to focus on my blessings and the many things I am grateful for. I need to have an "attitude of gratitude." I really have been blessed abundantly!

Vacation and First Day of School

The first day of school was great for both girls...here are a couple of pictures, and a couple of pictures from our vacation.

We're Home!

Well, we've actually been hope for a week but it's been a busy week. I still haven't unpacked. I hate unpacking.

We had a wonderful time at Disney World. We loved being there with my parents and wish they could have stayed longer. They had so much fun that they're planning some quick weekend trips to go back and use the rest of their tickets before they expire. We're planning a trip together in October so I can take the girls to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party and the water parks, while Mom and Dad go back to Epcot and maybe another park. DH probably won't be able to go due to softball. :-(

The highlight of the trip for DH and the girls was riding Rockin' Rollercoaster. No, I did not ride. But they absolutely loved it! They also rode Expedition Everest for the first time and enjoyed that. I'm not sure what the highlight was for me, honestly -- it was a wonderful trip and I really enjoyed it. I had a lot of fun on a "Mother/Daughters" trip to Downtown Disney. The girls and I ate at the BEST sandwich place ever (Earl of Sandwich -- wish they had one here!) and had fun shopping and looking at all of the amazing things there.

We're now gearing up for school to start next week. It's crazy that school starts so early here. We don't like it. Most of the school shopping is done but we have a few more things to pick up. A is running cross country and B's soccer season starts next week, so we'll be back to our "normal" insanely busy schedules. That's the way life goes around here!

I'm a Slacker....

I am a slacker. In my own defense, I never claimed not to be.

Wow, two months since I've updated. It isn't that there hasn't been anything going on. Quite the opposite, actually. There's been a lot going on.

The school year ended and both girls did really well. DH had basketball camp. B had a two week summer enhancement program for gifted students -- one of her classes was all about chocolate and she loved it. We enjoyed sampling her class projects! My sister Andrea and her family came to visit and we all had fun with them. A had her wisdom teeth pulled and she definitely didn't enjoy that. Then A got an infection...she definitely didn't enjoy that, either. Then A went to EFY and she totally loved it and wanted to stay for another week. Now A is at girls' camp and she told us before she left on Tuesday that she definitely wouldn't love it. We'll see how it turns out!

Next week we'll be going on vacation to Disney World and we're all looking forward to that. Mom and Dad are going with us for the first couple of days and it will be fun to spend that time with them. I'm in full obsessive planning mode and am hoping everything goes well and that everyone has a good time.

School starts for us in just a few weeks...it's hard to believe that, for us, summer vacation is almost over. :-(

In the blink of an eye....

I have realized this week that time passes very quickly. Oh, so very quickly. Sure, there are days that seem never-ending, and there are weeks that seem to drag by. And I know for a fact that I have endured months at work that seemed like years -- for example, August and September of 2007 really did last an entire year all by themselves.

But I realized this week just how quickly time is passing.

My baby will be 10 years old tomorrow.

How did that happen? She isn't supposed to get older. She isn't supposed to grow up. She isn't supposed to be a big kid!

Yesterday in the car she told us that she can't wait to turn 12 -- that she would be turning 12 in two years and two days. Yes, thank you for demonstrating your math skills while pushing that dagger deeper and deeper into my heart. Very sweet of you.

Then she proceeded to tell us that in just three years her older sister will be graduating from high school and getting ready to leave for college. OK, just twist the dagger while you're at it.

After B's soccer game yesterday, we went out to lunch with some of the other players and their parents. Rather than fast food (our usual after a game), we went to a nice, "sit down" restaurant. One with menus and silverware wrapped up and waiters and the whole nine yards. Oh, before I forget -- my apologies to the servers and other guests who were subjected to the smell of six girls who had just played soccer for two hours in the heat.

The girls sat together at a table behind us. I realized then that B isn't a baby anymore (although there are times.....). She was giggling with her friends, ordering her own meal, cutting her own meat, and thoroughly enjoying herself.

Ten years ago tomorrow, my sweet B entered this world. I remember asking the labor and delivery nurse, shortly before she was born, what was going to happen after she was born. A's birth was rather traumatic and she was whisked off to the NICU, so I really had no idea what to expect with an (almost, pretty much) full term delivery. And then B entered this world screaming and full of life and they handed her to me. That was an amazing experience.

And we have had an amazing 10 years since then. She hasn't really quieted down, and she certainly hasn't slowed down, since then. She is full of life and is very sensitive. Intelligent and inquisitive, bright and eager to help and please others. Always on the go -- always. If she sits still for long, it's either because she is engrossed in a book or isn't feeling well.

I helped with her class at her school field day on Friday and watched her help me organize the students for various events, remember to put on her own sunscreen (of course I forgot mine), and keep tabs on what was going on. I was struck by how mature she is.

Later this year, A will be 15 years old and will be a sophomore in high school. Heaven help us all -- she will be old enough to get her learner's permit and start driving (yes, I will be sure to warn you all when that happens).

I have come to terms, I think, with the fact that my baby years are over. But for some reason, having B hit the "double digits" tomorrow is hard.

These last 10 years have flown by. I still remember, in a very real, physical way, how it felt to hold her in my arms for the first time. Now when she wants to snuggle on my lap or next to me in bed, she takes up a lot more space . How did it happen so quickly? I don't know.

Happy birthday, my sweet B. I have thoroughly enjoyed the last 10 years. I just wish they hadn't passed so quickly.