a rock star from outer space

even though this was something grace did way back during school, i just found the pics on the camera.  make fun all you want, you all know this happens to you as well.  she had an assignment to craft an alien.  being the hip-rock n' roll-lover that she is, she made a rock star alien.  that's my girl!  i gave her an empty jello box, some googly eyes, paper and feathers and she came up with this! it was her idea to add the straws.  

how could you not love an alien with lips like these?  so rat your hair, stick your tongues out, raise your lighters in the air and rock out!

crazy cousins

during july we watched my two nephews while my sis & bro in-law went on a cruise.  while they were gallivanting on the high seas, we were having fun with cristian and matthew.  these two are something else! 

 matthew, cristian & gracie

 i think matthew is still upset at me in this picture because i made him try veggies.  and well, the look on cristian's face, is well, cristian.  

 these two were inseparable.  they swam one day ALL DAY! i am not exaggerating.  they ate lunch out by the pool and i had to drag them out for dinner.  let's just say they slept very well that night!

 i think brady was glad they were gone.  poor dog had three kids chasing after him instead of just one.

these three had a great time and we hope to see them again soon!

oh pioneer!

here are some fab pics of sarah before she left on her trek last month.  she was so thrilled to go. can't you tell? but seriously, in florida trek should be in winter.  they were rained on the entire time and were soooooo muddy and stinky when they got back.  her clothes are stained and the apron we borrowed will have to be bleached.  

i wonder...

i wonder if all mothers feel like this the moment they realize their daughters are growing up—as if it is impossible to believe that the laundry i once folded for her was doll sized; as if i can still see her dancing in lazy pirouettes along the lip of the sandbox.  wasn't it yesterday that her hand was only as big as the sand dollar she found on the beach?  that same hand, the one that's holding a boy's; wasn't it just holding mine, tugging so that i might stop and see the spider web, the milkweed pod, any of a thousand moments she wanted me to freeze?  time is an optical illusion—never quite as solid or strong as we think it is.    —jodi picoult (excerpt from my sister's keeper)

i know this is a more serious post than the normal, but i came across this quote yesterday, the eve of sarah's 13th birthday, while cleaning and organizing the office.   i had written it down years ago while reading the book, thinking that one day i would understand how this mother felt.  how funny that i find it right now, as my oldest is entering teenagedom.  i just wanted to share it as i am sure many of you out there with teenagers and young adult girls think the same things at any given moment in time.  we must enjoy every moment with them, for it goes by far too quickly.

houston, we have a teenager in the house

 she might be turning 13, but she still loves lollipops!

we hope it's a happy one cutie! 

may your teen years be kind to us... we love you!!!