Just. Breathe.

So.....I've been on a bit of a blogging break. Why, you ask? [Admit it, you asked.]  Because it was my last summer with my girl before we can no longer deny she's an adult. Because I haven't been feeling particularly interesting.  Because work has been sucking the life outta me. Because adding one more thing to my to do list ... just. no. And yet, here I am!  At the end of a summer that was full of change and experiences and fun and events, perhaps I should just bite the bullet and start a little series of recaps.  Going all the way back to mid-May, we had this happen at our house.  Let's pretend I got everyone's permission to show this picture. We had Prom Central here. Two of these girls got their hair and makeup done here, then the other two joined us for snacks and pictures before heading off to prom at Texas Stadium. (I know, that's not the real name now, but I don't care.) This is my baby girl and the dress she picked. Remember t...

I named this Part 1 because there's no way there won't be more of these. Today I took part of the day off to go PROM DRESS SHOPPING with the girl.  Moms, if you went to prom, take a moment to thank your mother. Being on this side of the experience was...fun, exhausting, sad, sweet, and a little unbelievable. Where is the baby I just had 5 minutes ago? How is it possible that we're approaching the end of her school years, and college is around the corner? I'm not allowed to show the final dress - that will come when prom is actually here. But here are some of the runners up, with a disclaimer: she wasn't thinking about her hair or the look on her face when I took these! We went to the bridal store first (and I told her she wasn't allowed to shop there again for MANY years). When shopping there, you're basically looking for style and size - they can order most colors. She was pretty set on blue - turquoise/teal/blue-green -- so we took time to find some ...

If you know us personally, you might know that Bug, our daughter, is graduating this year and planning to study Chemistry with a forensic science certification. University of North Texas, here she comes!  Today, at the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas, the location of the Kennedy assassination, UNT hosted a CSI day for families, and we went to solve the crime. The minimum age of participants was supposed to be eight years old, but I'm pretty sure they weren't checking IDs. Anyway, other than having a slew of girl scouts to work around, it was pretty fun.  We viewed a crime scene, where a bomb had gone off in a casino. We read witness and suspect statements, viewed results of the explosive testings, and compared fingerprints. We got to take our own fingerprints and compare them to the "types" of fingerprint patterns - I'm a "loop" on at least a couple of fingers. Then we checked evidence to see if it was blood (it was). We saw how they analyze pape...

It's Saturday morning. My daughter is earning money cleaning the house, and I'm doing some other stuff. TV is tuned to music videos, and one of my new favorites just came on: Martina McBride's "Teenage Daughters": I ain’t complainin’ But I’m tired, so I’m just sayin’ What I think And if we’re being honest Than honestly I think I need a drink [It's a little early at the moment, but sure! Sign me up!] My baby’s growin’ up She think’s she’s fallin’ all in love And that I hate her At seventeen, she’s just like me when I was seventeen So I don’t blame her [I'm blessed that this isn't completely accurate. She's only 15, and I'm pretty sure she knows I don't hate her. BUT, I do remember 17, and it's not hard to project a little.] Remember when we used to be Everything they'd ever need We had them believing we were cool It’s like it happened overnight We’re always wrong, they're always right We used to be the ones bre...