There are some experiences in life worth skipping...

Do you want to know what's NOT that much fun?

Mammograms.

Do you want to know what's even WORSE? Going to a mammogram on Wednesday, and on Friday morning noticing a note, hastily written by your husband, to call the mammogram people. Apparently they had called the DAY BEFORE, less than 24 hours after I had been there. I suppose if you don't have boobs yourself, you can't imagine the anxiety one might feel to know these people are calling you so quickly.

Oh please be a question about insurance, I thought.

Yeah, not so lucky. They would like me to come back in for additional views!

That doesn't sound that much fun AT ALL. Especially when they can't see me until Tuesday, and it's Friday before a long weekend.

A long weekend in which I spent imagining my husband's new wife, the one that would see my children graduate from high school. The one who would hold my grandchildren. She was a bimbo. The kids hated her, my friends hated her. She looked, in my active imagination, like Pamela Anderson. But not the hottie Baywatch one, the current cougar haggard one.

Sorry honey.

Anyway, other than that, the weekend was lovely...once August returned from Vegas, we attended many a BBQ with awesome friends.

Then it was Tuesday. It's not much fun to work while being nervous about your husband remarrying Pamela Anderson.

Before I knew it, I was back at the Breast Health Center. A place I'd walked away from 6 days prior hoping to not see again for another year. It troubles me to look around medical facilities. Are these women here for routine checkups, or are they already fighting a battle for their lives? I obsess, I tell you.

So, more pictures. Not fun. Then I get putting in a room, one WITHOUT all the juicy entertainment magazines. Then another lady gets put in the room. Apparently this is a holding cell of some type. She's old-ish...in her 60s for sure. She begins to tell me about her breast cancer five years ago, about the lump that appeared in two months' time and looked like a satellite in the pictures. About her focus group and all the medicine she has taken ever since. All I can think is I don't want to go down that road.

Some doctor guy comes in. He tells her she's clear! See you in a year! I'm left sitting there. Now I am sure I am left here because my news is bad. I hate Pamela Anderson.

But, alas, an ultrasound technician comes in for me instead of the bad news messenger.

She's lovely and funny, but she keeps looking at this one spot and I, of course, am trying not to hyperventilate.

She leaves the room and comes back with a doctor lady who looks right at the screen and says something like, "you got it, that's what I thought it was!"

Helloooooo?????? WHAT is IT???

Then she looks at me...oh, the patient attached to the image on the screen!

Seems all is okay. August doesn't get the skanky second wife after all, which is good because my friends would totally give him hell.

It appears to be a lymph node that has gotten into the picture.

Stupid lymph node.

Whew!!!

Now I might need a cardiologist for all the wear and tear on my heart muscle over the past week.

But now I have learned first hand to NOT put off your checkups! This is a public service message. :)

It WAS fun, just like she thought!

Kennedy is home, sleeping in her own bed, tonight for the first time since Tuesday. Did we send her for a trial run at a boarding school? Did we sign her up for one of those "swap your kid for one from another country" programs?

Nope! Wednesday morning, she left on a big yellow school bus for a place called Astrocamp. She was excited to go. We got to school and all the kids checked in and got their cool t-shirts.


And they dropped their luggage on the sidewalk.

It was a lot of luggage.

I finally relinquished the camera. Kennedy took the picture of the moms standing on the sidewalk. Moms who were not going to leave until the bus drove out of sight.

It was a four hour bus ride. They seem to be in good spirits.

The accommodations are probably not five-star, but they were together...

I should let Kennedy compose her own post, but I loved these pictures so much I had to post them tonight.

Here she is getting ready to do a "vine walk". Or perhaps they are training to be in the circus. I'm not sure. Probably some of them need a Plan B, just in case, and the circus is always an option.

She's ready...

Climbing the big tree...

Whoa! Scary!!!!!

Whew! She made it!

Is it my imagination, or does she look relieved?

They came back Friday night...but Friday night was another story! The bus, after a four hour ride home, pulled up, she jumped off and jumped into her friend, Samantha's, parent's car and off they went to the Staples Center to the Taylor Swift concert.

She's been busy, but now she's fast asleep in her very own bed.

Ah, I like it that way much better. :)

A little quote for a Monday morning

"If you THINK you are going to have fun, then there is a BIG CHANCE that you WILL have fun."

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~ Brooke, said to Kennedy when Kennedy expressed excitement about her upcoming 6th grade overnight trip.

A Toast to Mother's Day

For Mother's Day 2009, we tried something new. We met our friends, the Zavolta family, at Malibu Family Wines. We took a picnic. We bought a bottle of wine.

It was fabulous. (And I hear those of you who KNOW us...we aren't REAL wine drinkers, but when in Rome...or Malibu as the case may be...)


Here is where you can buy the wine, or "take a flight" (which is a sampling). Next time we plan to take that flight for sure!

This is a man who knows how to treat his wife right on Mother's Day...

Brookie made this bag in Brownies. I love it.

It was a perfect day...a perfect setting...don't you agree?

Those in the family who would like to see more pictures can check out the Shutterfly site!

Once upon a time, I fell in love with this boy right here.


And I was VERY much in love. Very happy with my partner in life. Not only were we in love, we were best friends.

Life was good. We were having fun.

But as we know, because we learn this early in life...first comes love, then comes marriage.

Then comes a baby in a baby carriage.

And then, like the Grinch but without his foul mood, my heart grew three sizes that day the baby carriage showed up. My heart expanded so that it could contain the myriad of feelings that the rest of my life would throw at it...

because now I was a Mommy.

I am thankful today is Mother's Day. Not so that I can be waited on or receive presents (but that is a lovely benefit)! Not because the children will try extra hard to be on good behavior (an even BETTER benefit)! But because today will be a day that we will have nothing on the agenda but being together.

I love my family.

I love my husband.

And I love my girls.

Later today we will be picnicking at Malibu Family Wines...and I will certainly test the capacity of my heart when I watch my girls play with such a scenic background behind them.

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Happy Mother's Day to my mother, who is having a difficult week with a sick friend and for that I am so sorry. Happy Mother's Day to my mother-in-law, who is leaving on a cruise today and for that I am so happy. Happy Mother's day to my stepmother and my aunt, who are most likely having a bit of a sad day for this is the first mother's day without my grandmother, and I imagine how they feel because I am missing her too. Happy Mother's Day to my rockin' sisters-in-law, who are such wonderful moms and who live too far away. Happy Mother's Day to my village, my back-up moms, the mothers of my children's friends...there are some I love as if they were my own sisters, my life is enriched for having met them.

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All of these mothers in my life are an inspiration to me for many varied reasons. I am a better mom because of each of them.

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Indeed today is not a day that I wish to BE celebrated, it is a day that I celebrate the fact that I am a mom. The single best thing I've ever done. Twice. :)

Well at least they are cute

This may come as a shock to some of you, but somehow (snicker, snicker) my husband & I did not make athletic babies. Not even close.

Kennedy was girly from the get-go. Dolls and dress-up filled her toddler years. Art and the occasional gymnastics or hip hop class filled the gap from 7 to 10. From 11 on, she's...well...she's just like I was at that age. Except way better. She is excelling at student-ness, her teachers LOVE her, she's a Girl Scout working on her Silver award, she enjoys going to the mall. Gym class? Not her favorite.

Now Brookie...I had a little feeling that Brooke might be a LITTLE athletic. She's WAY more active and loves to run and climb and jump into puddles.

She takes tennis each week and is really doing a great job.

She's in a dance class on Mondays and has a lot of fun.

But sports? I've asked her if she wants to be on her friend's soccer team. She says no. Fine by me...sitting at a soccer field all day on a Saturday doesn't sound like all that much fun to be honest witcha.

Last week, her after-school program had a parents vs kids SOCCER GAME!

Oops. I wore heels and didn't bring a change of clothes AND I could barely walk from pilates two days prior, so August represented us on the field.

First of all, here are a few of the kids. They look harmless, yes?



I know you were thinking how cute Brooke and that little girl were, so here's another shot.



Warm up exercises! Here she goes!!! What a champ!!!

There was about 1000000007 little kids and about, oh, 4 adults...here it appears that August is approaching Brooke to give her a little advice. Or perhaps wake her up from her daydream by stepping on her foot or something.

See...this is how you do it! You kick the ball LIKE THIS!

However, that did not appeal to her at all.

...

Instead she found an area of the field in which she could really showcase her talent!

Goalie! Or is it goaly? Y or IE?

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Even if I don't know how to spell it, it's an important position, yes? Do not let the ball go into the goal, right?

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Right!

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So, in order to do that MOST EFFECTIVELY, probably you should stand with a few of your bestest buds, chat a bit, and just completely GUARD THAT GOAL!

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Yep. That's how she rolled.

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And guess who won...come on now...but of course! THE KIDS! Because there was no way a parent was going to kick a ball hard enough to break through this girlie-goalie line up, that's for sure!

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So, looks like Saturdays will remain soccer field-free until further notice. Thank you to our DNA. :)

Manic Monday

Last night, while in the bath, Brooke says "I wish it was Saturday". Boy howdy, so do I! I wanted it to still be Saturday so we could have have one more lovely weekend day.

Brooke, however, wanted it to be Saturday so we could take her to Build a Bear.

That was random. Like, who just up and goes to Build a Bear? In Brooke's mind's eye, apparently we do. If it had been Saturday, that is.

But instead it was Sunday, so today is Monday...and today I can sing "wish it were Sunday, cuz that's my fun day".

Anywho...I have just a couple of things to report.

1) we are preparing for the LAST GARAGE SALE OF MY LIFE. I loathe garage sales...don't like going to them or having them. I spent the weekend in the garage getting stuff organized.

2) the dog is spoiled. And shedding.

3) last Thursday was Open House. Kennedy was very excited to learn that her science group won FIRST PLACE for their presentation on propane! And her science/math teacher told us that the children gave each other scores, with a score of "5" being above and beyond, and she was the only student in both classes to receive that score from her peers.

So proud, the heart could burst sometimes.

still on Open House here... and Brooke, oh Brookie. First grade cutie pie. She took us to the class that she goes to for Language Arts and showed us the house that she and her group built, and back in her homeroom she showed us paper after paper from her folder on top of her desk. All perfect scores, she was proud, we were proud.

What does one do when one's heart bursts, anyway? Because surely one day soon this is going to happen.

4) I am winding down working on the yearbook...it's due to be completed tomorrow night. I love working on the yearbook for our school, and it ensures that my kids are adequately represented on all the event pages. Do you remember flipping through your yearbook, so excitedly, looking and looking for your picture on all those candids pages and being so disappointed when you could only find yourself on the portraits page, or in a tiny group shot? Well, my children will not have to suffer that! No sireeeeeee!!!!!!

Hmmm. I think that's it! All the news that is news! And it's just another manic Monday, so live it up!! Only five more days until the weekend! Garage sale countdown...oh joy.