She is 15

This girl, this quiet, unassuming, sweet,

awkward, content with her lot in life,

loving, precious, smart girl,
has made it so that I've been a Mama for 15 years today.
Fifteen incredibly short years.
Too short.

I know You Are, But What Am I?

Pee Wee was pretty popular when I started dated Big D. Truth be told, Big D got a kick out of him. He would come over and my baby sisters (ages 5 & 2) would beg him to do "the dance" for them. He would laugh and decline. But the moment I left the room, he'd do it for them. They'd giggle and shriek.

I have never once seen him do it. Not once.

Flash forward to today. We recently watched Pee Wee's Big Adventure with the kids. Big D enjoyed it just as much as he did all those years ago. The kids giggled & laughed all through it.

I live with a family of quoters. They see a movie once and quote it for years. The movie sparked some of our favorites.

Oh, how we laugh at this. Whenever we travel, upon entering Texas once again, we sing the song. Once, we were singing it as we entered a rest area. A man obviously knew what we were doing because he started clapping along with us. Good times.


Another good one. Feel free to stop it after 1:50 (Unless you enjoy Pee Wee).

Holy Moly, It's Been a Week?

I didn't realize it has been so long since I've blogged. That might have something to do with the boy in the above picture. He's been in rare form lately. When I asked him why he's so obnoxious, he told me that God sculpted him that way. Yeah. I'm thinking not. He also wants me to leave an adventure quest for his sister & him when I die.

In other news that has kept me away, Lamb & I went to see the new Happy Days musical. The performer who portrayed Fonzie? Amazing. I believed him to be The Fonz. It also sparked a huge interest in Happy Days the show for Lamb. I put seasons 1-4 in my Netflix queue so we'll watch them this summer. I can't wait to watch this with her. I remember that show so vividly. One of my favorites. I can't wait to see Joanie & Chachi fall in love again either.

I've seen two movies in two weeks. Angels & Demons. Very good. And Star Trek. Also Very.Good. Now, I'm not a Star Trek fan. Science fiction has never been my favorite genre. My mother, on the other hand, is a Trekkie. Not a fanatical one, let me just put that out there. Having said all that, I *really* enjoyed the latest movie. It may or may not have had something to do with this guy.
Yeah. The guys have been keeping me busy this week.

I've also had Bear's last baseball game, been in charge of the 4th grade class on a field trip, worked at our P.E. Fun Day, & watched the season finales of Survivor, Dancing with the Stars, and American Idol.

I am whooped. In a good way.

Camera Critters #58

When we were having our house built, we had the choice between a Pine Tree and an Oak Tree. I didn't even have to think about it. I wanted the oak.

As our years and the tree have grown, the tree has become our favorite part of the yard. It's our beacon.

It has survived heavy rains and was shelter to all the spiders looking for dry land.

It has survived tropical storms and hurricanes.

It lived through a snow storm in Houston.
And it is now providing a safe place for a Mama Bird to await the hatching of her babies.

We ♥ our tree!

Celebrity Flick

Last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, Lamb was able to participate in the dance team's Spring Show. Her dance class, along with all the other dance classes, performed in a medley of songs.

I only recorded about 30 seconds of it. I realized that I could barely see over the camera so I turned it off so as to enjoy her performance live. What I didn't record (& I wish I did) is the part for which she had to audition. So proud that she was picked!

Since I am a sharer ;), here is the short clip if you are interested. She has really learned a lot in her first year of dance! We are hoping to get her into some summer classes so she can continue to grow & learn in it.

Enjoy!

What a Ride

You know that joke letter from a child to a mother stating all these horrible things only to state at the end that he only flunked a class, but boy, could it have been worse? Am I making sense? Well, I've had that happen in reverse. I received some news, only to have something worse brought to my attention. Suddenly the bad news wasn't so bad. Time has passed and all's well that ends well.

To recap. It's all been about Bear.

• He had scoliosis detected during the routine 5th grade screening.
• Because he was sporting a black eye and has healing mosquito bites which look like bruises on his back, the dr. told the school nurse he thought Bear looked beaten. Thank the good Lord above the school nurse asked Bear and passed along the info to that dr.
  
• I've already mentioned the whole cheater thing.

Those were the bad things. Let's move on to the good things.

• Bear got out of his batting slump.
• He's been fortunate enough to have more than 1 at bat these past couple of games.
• He hit a ground rule double. When he connected with that ball, all I could do was watch it fly. Suddenly, I realized it was going FAR. Big D & I stood up, clutching each others' arms. All I could think was, "Please outfielder, don't catch it!" Next thing I knew, it was bouncing over the fence. So, so close to being a homerun! He was even presented with the ball. :)
  

• We took him to the doctor about the scoliosis. The doctor was flabbergasted as to why he was even referred. She was so confident he did not have that she didn't even order an x-ray of his back.

• The very best news of all? Tomorrow morning I am having what is called an ARD meeting. In that meeting, Bear will be dismissed from speech therapy. Finally. Yay!

Party On, Dude and Be Most Excellent to Each Other

Working with elementary kids, I usually feel pretty hip & cool. Mainly because I hear what they are talking about and see it firsthand (for the most part) with my own kids. Of course, there are times when I definitely feel old. Mainly because they do not have the background knowledge I do since I've lived longer.

Today, one 5th grader [Melissa: K.W.] took me back to the early 90s. We were talking and her eyes lit up talking about her celebrity crush. Edward Cullen? Nah, he grosses her out. The Jonas Brothers? Ewww No!
He, as in Keanu Reeves, is her celebrity crush. Her favorite movies include Point Break, Speed, & The Replacements.

I had to giggle to myself and give her a hug for making my day.