The one about lockers, voting, Katniss and Peeta and General Hospital

Last week I mentioned that I had been sick but thought I was getting better. And then I got worse. The cough started up again and I was miserable. But today I can happily report that I really AM getting better. Actually, today is the best I've felt in almost a month! I don't know what kind of hideous bug I had but it really knocked me off my feet. 

In other news, I also mentioned that The Princess has been dancing every weekend in various workshops, etc. And last weekend she had her first dance concert of the year at her school. This (the past three weeks) is the first time in her life that I have ever not been there to watch her perform. I asked her to try to get some pictures for me. She did pretty well with this at the workshops...

But at the dance concert this past weekend, she sent me a photo of her inside a locker.

Honestly...that's not quite what I had in mind.

Then she sent me an interesting photo of her at dinner later that evening...

Again, not really what I had in mind.

I did like this one of her stretching at school though!

In other news, The Boy voted in his very first election.

I'm really proud of how he paid attention to the issues. He researched and watched the debates and educated himself, and he came to his own thoughtful conclusions about whom to vote for. 

This is his last week of Cross Country. they have one more meet this weekend and then he's done. He's looking forward to a bit more free time! I'm thinking he still has some college application essays to write...

Today, in case you were not aware (as I was not), was Mole Day. The Princess had to make a mole for Chemistry to celebrate this momentous event. She went to a friend's house this weekend and they worked on their moles...

Katniss Ever-Mole and Peeta Mole-Ark

The Princess's mole was Katniss Ever-Mole. These photos were taken while they were still works in progress. The completed moles had accessories too - Katniss had a bow and arrows made from pipe cleaners and more embellishments on her cloak of fire. Peeta had camouflage and a loaf of bread.

Cute, no?

Also, since I've been sick this month I started watching General Hospital again. I started watching this show a million years ago when I was in middle school. It came on around the time I got home from school and I watched it in high school and college (I remember watching Luke and Laura get married while sitting with my roommates in the dorm) and then periodically through the years until I had babies. I haven't seen it in years. (If any of you watch or watched this show - I started watching it around the time Laura killed David what's-his-face and started seeing Scotty - a LONG time ago!!)

Anyway, out of pure boredom, I began watching it again and was immediately sucked in. It seems that the show has been bringing back all sorts of characters from the past (from MY past) which is really fun. But...now I'm addicted again. This is not so good. Now that I am feeling better I just don't have time for an addiction like GH. But still. *sigh*

Excuses, excuses...

This has been my life for the past couple of weeks. Somehow, somewhere, I managed to pick up a nasty bug which basically kicked my butt.

In addition to Strep Throat, I had a nasty cough. The doctor gave me medicines which helped, but they also wiped me out and made me sleepy. I lost my voice, which is terribly frustrating (although I'm not sure that the kids minded me not being able to yell at them), and now, due to the constant hacking and coughing, I have pleurisy. 

But...I think I'm starting to get better. Even though I still don't have a voice. 

Anyway, what I'm trying to tell you here is that I'm not really sure what I've missed the past couple of weeks...due to the constant hacking and coughing and sleeping.

The Boy has been busy with college application essays and cross country meets and homework.

The Princess has been busy with dance workshops every weekend and has a dance concert at her school this weekend. 

Mr. Wonderful has been busy being wonderful and picking up the slack and driving carpool for his sick wife and picking up prescriptions and cough drops. He's been Mr. Mom.

I don't know how I would have gotten through the past couple of weeks without the help of Mr. Wonderful, and the driving abilities and helpful attitude of The Boy, and the fabulous family spirit at The Princess's dance studio which allowed me to continue sleeping off the meds while The Princess's dance family stepped in and took her to her workshops so that she didn't have to miss them.

Hopefully, this vicious nasty bug from Hell is on it's way and I'll be back to myself soon...but thank you to everyone who stepped in to help. You're awesome!

Let them eat cake

The Princess has a birthday coming up in a few days. It's a pretty big birthday - she'll be turning 16. How this is possible, I don't know. I can't believe my little cherub is so grown up! And I definitely can't believe that I am old enough to have an 18 year old and a 16 year old.

The Princess wanted to just have a few special friends over to celebrate. A lot of the girls at her school are going all out - having huge Sweet Sixteen parties with formal dress, etc. The Princess stated (with a horrified expression on her face) that that was just NOT her style. She opted for low key and casual.

Of course, her idea of low key and casual is shorts, a t-shirt, and a tiara. And she kept referring to her guests as her peasants. She kept trying to upgrade herself to Queen status, but I quickly put a stop to that by informing her that there was only one queen around here and that was ME!

The Boy and his BFF, Miss B, helped chaperone - which primarily consisted of constantly reminding the high and mighty not quite sixteen year old Princess to stop referring to her lovely guests as peasants. Apparently, the other main part of hanging out and helping chaperone consisted of helping to eat the food.

The Princess's BFF, The Court-i-nator, made her a birthday poster and a CD/slideshow of photos of them growing up as best friends since the age of three. It was truly one of the sweetest and most thoughtful gifts I've ever seen, and it brought tears to my eyes.

We have a tradition at The Princess's birthday parties, that the girls decorate the cake. We've done this ever since she had her first sleepover party in the 2nd grade. It's not very...stylish, but the girls have a ton of fun squeezing glitter frosting everywhere and dumping peanut butter chips and M&M's and dollops of nutella everywhere. 

They tend to sample the decorations as they work. And by the time they've had their first slice of cake (but certainly not the ONLY slice of cake of the evening), they're buzzing. And giggling. And basically bouncing off the walls.

As one might guess from the amount of sugar on that cake!

In order to preserve the windows and glass in the house, and my sanity, we went for a jaunt around the lake to allow the sugar high to wear off a bit.

After the boat ride, the kids all decided that The Princess should be pushed into the pool sixteen times - one push for each year of her life. The guests/peasants all seemed to enjoy this part of the party.

(Dear Precious Princess, That's the problem with acting all high and mighty and referring to your friends as your peasants. Peasants tend to revolt. Life lesson, sweetie!)

After the boat ride and dictator Princess dunking, the kids ate pizza and popcorn and more cake. They watched a movie and giggled a lot. They went to the Princess's bedroom where they giggled some more. They finally went to sleep around 1-ish. I think. I'm not really sure because I finally fell asleep around 1-ish. So actually, I'm not sure what time they finally went to sleep!

It was a fun birthday celebration for The Princess.

Aka, my little baby girl.

Because no matter how old or imperious she gets, she'll always be my baby girl!

Reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated...

Just a quick update to let you know that I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. I've been trying to deal with a few things and just got a bit overwhelmed. I've decided to take a bit of a blogging (i.e. internet) break while I get organized - nothing serious, just...stuff. There's just not enough hours in the day! Please bear with me! I'll be back...

In the meantime, as I try to deal with the eclectic assortment of crap o my to-do list (you don't even want to know), here are a few photos I took the other day of critters around the yard and whatnot.

Catching up with Instagram

Once again, I've dropped the proverbial blogging ball. The kids were both back at school this week, I had a birthday (29. Again.), It has rained incessantly, we were threatened with a hurricane, I had 8,890,914 forms to fill out and sign for the two schools, and had to send in a bunch of money to the aforementioned schools - lunch money, locker money, yearbook money...and so forth and so on.

Sadly, I have absolutely nothing exciting to share. If you've got kids, then you know how the week has been. Back to school time - Blech. 

Thankfully, no one has overslept so far. 

So anyway, I decided to share the photos from my cell phone - since I haven't been using the real camera. Hold on to your seats - the excitement might overwhelm you.

First, let's all give a warm round of applause for this little guy. He's been working overtime this week. I don't think I would have made it through the week without my dear, dear friend - Mr. Keurig.

Seriously, though. It rained this week. A lot. Torrents of rain. There was flooding in the streets - and at The Princess's school. Now if you have kids and you do parent pick-up - you know how it's always crazy the first week? Well, multiply that by about 100. The kids couldn't exit through the usual area at the front of the school because it had flooded. So parents had to try to fid a spot in the student parking lot, which was jam packed. I'm telling you, it was crazy!

This was our weather this week.

Every. Single. Day.

But today is sunny. And beautiful. Hooray!

Also, Tropical Storm/Hurricane Isaac seems to be heading further west and so doesn't appear to be a threat to those of us on the First Coast any longer. 

Which is just excellent.

Anyway, moving along with the review of the week...and completely out of order...

Here's The Princess heading out for her first day of her sophomore year of high school.

The Boy had some friends over. Just to hang out. There's nothing like walking in to a houseful of hungry teens to make a middle aged 29 year old mom feel needed.

Don't you love how everyone is a good sport about the mamarazzi, except for The Boy? He feels the need to make goofy faces every time a camera appears.

So, that was our week. Did anyone else have kids start back to school this week? 

Waking up and getting going before the sun is up.

Birthday flowers...still hanging in there!