A mother's life for me.

I hope all of you mothers had a very Happy Mother's Day and that your children provided you with lots of love, affection and praises of thanks and appreciation. I was blessed with a wonderful weekend with the family that Steve planned at our favorite resort in Tucson.

On Saturday morning we drove down to Tucson and enjoyed a yummy pizza lunch in the 4th Avenue Shopping District then rode the Old Pueblo trolley car over to the University of Arizona. The girls' favorite part was ringing the trolley bell. While being guided to a Student Union restroom by two amicable coeds, Emily announced that she cannot wait to go to college. (As happy as we are that she got that college goal embedded in the brain, we also fast forwarded ten years and realized that in the blink of an eye we'll be spending a summer touring college campuses. Good grief....I had a hard enough time with sending the her off to Girl Scout camp. Let's not rush this.)

The rest of the weekend involved tasty meals, swimming in the resort pool, ice cream in bed and a lazy Sunday evening at home. Had I not left the camera's memory card back at home I would have had some fun pictures to share, but I did so you'll just have to take my word for it.

A midlife crisis?

Not really. Just the Hole-in-One prize for tomorrow's Boys & Girls Club golf tournament that Steve chairs. We've got it for the night and will be tooling around town in it later. Too bad we didn't get the convertible.

Thank Heaven for Little Curls

Megs got her first 'official' haircut yesterday. I've done some home trims over the last three years (curly hair is more forgiving then straight) but her rag top had gotten a little out of control and it was time to get it cleaned up by a professional. I'd been reluctant to have it cut for fear of loosing those darling curls...but I'm very relieved to report that she still has curls! And she was a trooper in the chair too. Even got a case of the giggles.

Em got her cute A-line bob cleaned up for the summer too.

"I thought I was the first born!?"

For anyone that keeps score, it may seem as though I write about Emily much more than Megan. I promise that I love them equally. Emily's just at an age that she has a few more extracurricular activities that inspire creative prose. I am certain it will balance itself out as time goes on.


But you know who really is bent out of shape? Here it is almost three months of this blog and not one word has been mentioned? That one right over there. See how depressed she looks? Woe is her right?

Seriously though, Cheeto's doing great. She's slowing down a little bit in her 14th year. But she's definitely living the good life. She's come to appreciate the smallish people in the house since they give her treats every time we return home, even after a quick trip to the mailbox. Despite the extra snacks, Cheeto insists that it's not fat, it's just fur. Imagine what she'd look like if we didn't live in the middle of a desert. Someone came to the house the other day and actually asked me if Cheeto was pregnant. Gasp! The nerve!

Ready or not

This mama bear just dropped off her first born bear for a 2-night stay at Girl Scout camp. I’ve got to admit, I’m really struggling. On one hand I am bursting with pride. I know she is going to have a great time and this is a fun and important opportunity for her blossoming independence. Back here at home we’ll enjoy some one-on-one Megan time and look forward to hearing all about the trip on Sunday.

On the other hand…I just sent my baby girl off with her troop leaders to a camp 130 miles away and I won’t get to communicate with her until Sunday. Suddenly I have this feeling in the pit of my stomach. The kind you get when you're feeling totally helpless...but 20 times worse. And seven years old seems too young and premature for me to let go.

She’ll be fine…she’s totally ready. I, however, am neither.

The Great Outdoors

We took a family camping trip up on the Mogollon Rim this past weekend with some good friends. Here are some of the things we learned:

1. Our girls are great campers.

2. When camping 135 miles from home, don't forget to feed the neighbor's 13 year old cat.

3. To appreciate a well maintained spare tire and camping just 30 miles from a tire store.

4. Crawfish like hotdogs almost as much as Megan does.

5. Our tent can survive a night of gale force winds.

6. We need a new camping stove.

7. The Rim still gets pretty cold at night at the end of April (35 degrees cold).

8. Megan likes collecting ladybugs almost as much as she likes collecting rocks, but not nearly as much as she likes eating hotdogs.

Despite a few set backs, we all had a great time and we're looking forward to a lot more camp trips at cool places this summer.

Nine Years Later...

...he still makes me as happy as I was on this very day.