This week was an emotional one. Teen graduated 8th grade and made up with her best friends (she was so mature and so sweet I almost cried when she told me the store), Flower Child got her report cards and got STRAIGHT A's in class AND IN HER GATE CLASS, the kids all got out of school and we said goodbye to some great teachers.

It was a great week, but a tiring one!

Hubs took most of the day off of work and since the older kids were all off with their other parents it was just us and Lil Miss. So we went to a new place for breakfast :) You wouldn't think that in a town this small you could find a place you haven't tried in 4 years but you would be surprised ;)

Their food was AWESOME. I mean WOW. The french toast and home fried potatoes were CRAZY GOOD!

After breakfast, hubs went off to work and we went to a playdate and my good friend's house :) I got to see some friends and their kids that I haven't seen in ages! They're all so BIG now! It was just a nice way to start off the summer. I felt so relaxed!

To be honest, I've been a little nervous about this summer. I'm worried that I'll be quick to loose my temper with all the kids at home all the time and I'll turn into MEAN MOMMY ... and NOBODY likes HER!

Hopefully, we'll keep busy and that will help all of us to work together to keep this summer a great one!

My baby girl looked so grown up. This is Teen getting ready for her 8th grade graduation ceremony last Thursday :)

There was just something so grown up about her. Not that she was really any different that any day before, but there is just something about that red cap that made me feel like I was looking at a young woman instead of my little girl.

It COULD be that she was about 3 inches taller than me since she was wearing her new wedges and I wasn't wearing ANY shoes LOL! I'm pretty sure she's new exceeded my 5'4.5" stature and is close to 5'5"!

But there was something else. Maybe it was her pretty dress, or the new necklace she bought (and I totally borrowed from her the next day lol)

Or getting her hair done by a friend's professional hair lady mom.

I don't know what it was but it was one of those moments that stops you in your tracks and kind of takes your breath away. It was a good feeling, a great one even!

It was like I was getting a little sneak peek into the next few years that will undoubtedly be hard, teenage years always are! But filled with so many more moments like this when I get to see her becoming the woman she will be.

She hasn't been 'my little girl' in a VERY long time and it's funny because that doesn't make me sad at all! I cried early on in the day when I heard the "Pomp and Circumstance" wafting over the houses from the High School behind my house! I was so filled with emotion!

But it wasn't sadness at her growing up or looking back and missing her being 'my little girl'. It was pride at how SMART she is! She graduated with school and CJSF honors and was one of only a few names in the program of 360 kids with not one, but TWO stars!

I was filled with joy at how happy she is and what a sweet girl she is. She's always smiling and joking and filled with laughter.

I was filled with the happiness of knowing what a wonderful beautiful woman she's turning out to be.

Though I know she has a LONG WAY TO GO, as do I!, I know she has a great foundation! She's going to make her mistakes along the way, but I will be there to help her pick herself up and start again.

She thinks of so many other people. She has such a giving heart and is always putting the feelings of her friends and family high on her list of priorities.

I just can not wait to see what she does with her life! Who she becomes, what she does for a living, who she surrounds herself with.

I'm so lucky to be her mother. She is such a sweet wonderful soul and I worry sometimes that I'm just not equipped to be her mother and to teach her all of the important things she needs to know.

But then I have one of these Stop You In Your Tracks Make You Look Around Moments and I think, well I've done a pretty good job so far!! I just hope the next 4 years go this well and I'm lucky enough to have another one of these moments as she stands in front of me in her next cap and gown.

Well this week started off well :)

On Monday, the kids' last full day of school, the hubs and I met for lunch FOR THE LAST TIME FOR 79 DAYS ... duh duh DUUUUUH ... lol We split some fish and chips and splurged on dessert ... and it was AWESOME :) It had to be ... it has to last 79 DAYS! ;)

Tuesday started the fun times I like to call "Who am I going to forget at school today?" It's when the kids have days where one gets out early from school but not the others, or one goes in early but not the others, or all 3 get out early but at different times, or 2 are early one goes in late ... there are like 50 different combos. Well Tuesday was the start of Finals for Teen and so she got out at 11:40 while the other 2 were regular.

You might think that would easy to remember.

You'd be wrong.

But I DID remember because I only had 1 hour of free time and struggled within my soul as to how to spend it. Should I clean? Should I start the SIX rosette bracelets I need to make for Teen's friends? Should I work on the Christmas presents I still haven't finished? Should I blog? Should I waste time on the computer? NOOOO I shouldn't do THAT!

Well I did ;)

Wednesday was basically the same scenario except as I was racing over to get Teen from school (cutting my time alone SEVERELY) she called to ask if she could go to a friends house. lol That morning Flower Child had her awards ceremony and she received a medal for her reading, perfect attendance for both the trimester AND THE YEAR!, and the GOLD honor roll! My girlies are SO freakin smart!!

Now Thursday ... that was a DAY. It started of in a race to get all 3 girls ready for school and ready for last day events, (normally Lil Miss goes in the afternoon) get their teacher gifts ready, (yes I SHOULD have done them on Tuesday/Wednesday) get myself ready for the gym, and start getting the house clean for company after Teen's graduation.

It was a bit of heaven, let me tell you.

But I DID get the presents ready :) And all of the teachers loved them! It's a reusable coffee mug with a Starbucks card in it and I wrote a nice note saying how much I appreciated them and said Thanks A Latte ;)

Then I took pictures of Lil Miss and her teacher, who was SO great with her this year. I'm really grateful that she got a teacher that knew how to work WITH her personality. She has learned SO much this year and I just can't believe how smart and well adjusted she is. I was a little nervous about her first year getting used to school and all, and I think having the right teacher can make ALL the difference.

She definitely got the right teacher :)

As I left, I started to calm down and relax a little, things were marked off the list and I was feeling good! That is, until about a block away from the gym I spilled a whole cup of coffee in my lap :-/ Oh yeah, I sure did. So I went home and changed and just decided that I wasn't going to stress out about missing the gym, changed, and went to the store to get some cupcakes and punch for the Grad after party. Then I decided that after all of the stress and events and drama of the last 2 weeks, I was going to spend my last few hours of freedom at lunch ... ALONE :)

And I did!

And it was AWESOME :)


I went to this super cute sandwichy type place here in town and got a big bowl of THE BEST SOUP EVER - Roasted Red Pepper and Smoked Gouda - OMG. PURE.AWESOMENESS. I decided to treat myself further and got myself a fresh baked, still warm from the oven, chocolate chunk cookie :)

So I spent my last hour and a half of freedom in this lovely place, enjoying a great lunch, and reading a book. It was just heaven. And I can't even tell you what it did for my mood :) It really helped me to just relax and remind myself to just enjoy the rest of the day and the events and be present.

Because later that day MY BABY GREW UP AND BECAME A HIGH SCHOOL KID! ... duh duh DUUUUUUH ;-)

This weekend we got to go to a sleep over!

But first ...

We went to a bar! LOL

We were going to have ALL FOUR KIDS this weekend and heaven knows we needed to do some preparing for that. So Friday night, after the 3 younger kids were asleep, we let Teen come down and watch TV and we grabbed a cab and headed downtown.

I can not TELL YOU how awesome it is having Teen around :) In more ways than one OF COURSE. But lately we've been using her for her babysitting capabilities and it has just been AMAZING. We get a little time out of the house to dress up cute, get a drink or 2, and just be a couple :)

So it helped us to start the weekend off as a united front against the 4 small people who seek to destroy my sanity ... LOVE YA'LL :)

My good friend Rachelle that I've known since we were little was having her sweet little girl's 3rd birthday party this weekend and since we live about 2 hours away, she invited us to stay the night after the party.

So after Lil Miss & I got back from the gym, we all piled into the car (Teen was at a birthday party sleep over of her own) and headed out.

The car ride itself was pretty good, they all had their gameboys'n such and besides the occasional "STOP DOING THAT!" and "I DON'T CARE IF SHE'S LOOKING AT YOU". But we expect that.

The party was lovely and we had a great time. I would just LOVE to show you what I made for her gift but I didn't take a picture of it finished >:-/

After most of the guests left the REAL party started ;) The kids played in Amelia's room and were pretty content for awhile.

Rachelle & sweet baby Della :)

Me and sweet baby Della :)

Lil Miss can't pass a camera without wanting to get in on the action, even though she refuses to look at the camera lol

So they ran and played outside

and enjoyed the joy that only a Little Mermaid Big Wheel can provide :)


They had a great time outside while the adults had a great time INSIDE ;)

We had pizza for dinner and FINALLY got the sleeping situations figured out.

I think they were awake for about 2.5 seconds once their heads hit the pillow. They were SO cute and SO excited about their sleepover that they just were just exhausted and fell right asleep lol

My and my honey :) A couple friend of theirs stayed for the after hours party and the 6 of us told jokes, laughed til our sides hurt, and MAY have had a cocktail ...

or 2 ... or 3 ;)

It was then that we discovered Rachelle's strange cravings not only include cartons of butter, but also eating lemons with spoons :) Teen was very excited to find out that she is not the only one who enjoys a good lemon.

It was so nice out that night that we decided to go outside and enjoy the fire pit.

And roast some hot dogs ... if there had been marshmallows, it would have been HEAVEN. We stayed up and talked and laughed and drank some more til like 12 or 1 or something like that. Then woke up BRIGHT AND EARLY at 6:45 with the wee people who can't seem to understand that whole DAYLIGHT SAVINGS NONSENSE.

But she sure looks cute, it's a good thing, let me tell you. Cause ain't much gonna save you at 6:45 in the morning when mama's been up drinkin til 1am cept those dimples of hers lol

OH OH!! There it is!! I made her this super cute little coloring tote. On one side it has a place for a coloring book, and on the other side it has spots for coloring crayons. On the front I stenciled her name :) She seemed to really like it so that made me pretty happy.

Then it was bout time to hit the LOOOONG road home. So we started saying our good byes ...

there were a LOT of goodbyes to go around ...

a LOT ...

And an hour later we were ON OUR WAY. LOL ;)

On the way out of town, we passed by a place we'd heard a thing or two about so we decided to stop in.

The place was pretty cute, had bears and bear related things everywhere lol.

The kids had already eaten so we set them up with some coloring items and they were happy.

Or maybe it was the juice ... for $2.50 EACH they must have had some booze in em.

Lil Miss now demands the camera every time I start taking pics, she's getting pretty good at taking them, I gotta admit!

After breakfast we hit the road as we fought the urge to slip into a bacon induced coma. It was a LONG ride letmetellyou. We had high hopes of going to the Chocolate Festival that afternoon, I mean, it IS the CHOCOLATE Festival after all. But when the Hubs turned on my SUPER FAVORITE SHOW EVER 'I Almost Died A Horrific Death But Didn't So I'm Going To Tell You AAAAALL About It' ... or "I Survived" for short ... I embraced the coma and took a 2 episode long nap.

We didn't make it to the festival and I missed out on all the chocolatey goodness of CHOCOLATE ALLEY :( But that's ok, I'll just bank those calories and do it up DOUBLE next year ;)

It was a fun weekend and I'm so glad we were able to make it down for the party since they're moving to Texas next year :( Guess we'll just have to find excuses to get together more before they do!