I still can't believe it!!!

"And mothers are their daughters' role model, their biological and emotional road map, the arbiter of all their relationships." ~ Victoria Secunda

T turns 17 on Friday and it's still so hard for me to believe! This year is kind of neat because she was actually born on a Friday and we brought her home from the hospital on Monday, 4th of July.

Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else. ~Judy Garland

Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

She was born at 5:42 PM and it was late by the time we got to our room in the maternity ward. I distincly remember two things from those very first few hours: #1 Cosmo gave T her first bottle that night in the hospital (I was supposed to give nursing a try but the moring we went to the hospital I woke up in a mysterious rash from head to toe.) #2 All the nurses came in my room to tell me "congratulations! you have the biggest baby in the nursery!!" (T was a hefty 9 lbs. 10 oz). So weird the little things you remember.

Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars. ~Les Brown

The Saturday & Sunday we were still in the hospital were filled with visitors. So nice having our first child on a holiday weeekend with tons of friends & family close by! I was absolutely exhausted Sunday night and sent Cosmo home early to get some rest. I vividly remember laying in my hospital bed with T in my arms watching the fireworks over RCC and getting a really good night's sleep.

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. Henry David Thoreau

Those first few days, I never thought about raising a teenager. I didn't think about middle school or the high school years, never thought about my child going off to college. We truly lived in the moment with both of our girls. Cosmo & I definately took things one day at a time. Sometimes thinking too far into the future can be worrisome. Always makes me think of those sayings, "be careful what you wish for" and "don't invite trouble."

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. Eleanor Roosevelt

Have a very good reason for everything you do. ~Laurence Olivier

Stonewall Inn

“Love cannot be forced, love cannot be coaxed and teased. It comes out of heaven, unasked and unsought.” -- Pearl S. Buck

Woke up Saturday morning to hear that NY lawmakers had passed the same-sex marriage bill and I have to say, I had a great sense of pride. I guess you can say, gay pride. The girls & I had a wonderful, open, honest discussion about gay rights over breakfast and I was very proud of my two girls for being so open-minded. As parents, we always tell our children to be kind to others, to not make fun of people just because they're different, bullying is wrong, etc. T recapped our conversation succintly: "We have freedom of speech and freedom of religion and now people in NY have freedom to love."

Listen, we've all known people that have been in terrible marriages/relationships . . . people that cheat on their spouse, walk away from their marriages, neglect/ignore their children,mentally/physically abuse their spouses, etc. These people should never have gotten married in the first place (and most of them never should have reproduced, either). On the other hand, you have same-sex couples who have been in loving, long-term relationships and all they want is their union to be recognized and share the simple rights that so many married couples take for granted (the right to visit a spouse in the hospital, the right to share benefits for example). So ironic, isn't it?

http://ht.ly/5qoyZ

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_riots

Chickadees

"There are things to confess that enrich the world, and things that need not be said." -- Joni Mitchell

Yay! Have all my chicks back home in the nest this week. Love having everyone back home. Even though they still run around to the pool, movies, friends, lacrosse practice, etc., it's nice knowing we're all sleeping under the same roof.


T had an excellent adventure in MD this past weekend. She really liked the girls from the Atlanta team, her flights were fine, hotel was great, games were good. It was all good. She said it was a very positive experience and she's glad she went. While they were in the airport they ran into an actor from the Get Smart movie and The Longest Yard movie. He's about 7'2" so he wasn't hard to miss.


While T was flying to MD, Cosmo was able to spend the day w/ his brother in Atlanta before heading up to SC for a tournament. The high school boys made it to the championship game but lost. Apparently there was some excitement in their semi-final game but they handled themselves well against one of the FL teams who got a little scrappy. As Cosmo said, his boys certainly did not start the fight but they definitely finished it.

Had a belated Father's Day with Cosmo this week since he spent his Father's Day on the lacrosse field with his BamaLax "children." While we were at dinner, the elderly couple seated next to us stopped me and told me that I had a beautiful family and it was so nice to see a family spending time together. It was so sweet and really made my night!

KJ's been painting her little heart out this week on a piece for T's b-day. She's doing an awesome job! She sketched it out on the canvas and has the background painted so far. Last night we had to stop at the arts & crafts store so she could get more paint of a certain color. She consulted with Cosmo about the next steps and will work on it some more tonight (she obviously gets her artistic abilities from Cosmo's side of the family). She's also been doing some experimental work with our cameras. She likes to set up the tripod and use the timer features (I didn't even know my camera had a timer). We've been calling her "Pippa" this summer. She's T's little errand girl . . . she texts for T while they're in the car so T won't be texting & driving, she helped T pick out an outfit the other night when she went to a concert with one of her guy friends, etc. Although they drive each other crazy, I think KJ is really going to miss T when she goes off to college.


Next couple of weeks will be quiet as we gear up for our beach trip. KJ goes to volleyball next week and T's 17th b-day is fast approaching. Really, really, really looking forward to getting away for a couple of days. We totally need to chill and vegetate.

Gypsy Weddings

Love this stupid show almost as much as I love Toddlers & Tiaras. I wouldn't know about this week's season premiere of Toddlers & Tiaras because some deleted it before I had a chance to watch it. I was really looking forward to the big showdown between Elle and Mykenzie.

Lots going on at our house as always. One of the Atlanta All-Star teams invited T to play with them this weekend at a lax tournament in DC. It's a huge honor and pretty exciting at the same time because it will put her in front of some Northern college coaches versus the Southern college coaches she regularly sees at southern tournaments. I drove her to ATL Wednesday afternoon to meet the girls and get a practice in before Friday morning's flight. She and Cosmo spent last night in ATL because she had to be at the airport by 7 AM. Kind of weird to be putting her on a plane all by herself but she's so mature. I know she can handle it. She flew into BWI with no problems and had a game at 6 PM tonight. They won 7-6. She said she didn't score but the shots she took were good, solid shots and one hit the crossbar. She has a couple of games Saturday and will probably have some free time Saturday afternoon to explore the Inner Harbor or perhaps DC.

Wednesday T cut off approx. 10 inches of her hair. She's rockin' a cute, chin length bob with long bangs. I prefer her with long hair but I'm also proud of her for experimenting and trying something new. She has such a thick beautiful head of hair and gorgeous natural highlights.

So tonight LG is sleeping over and I think tomorrow several little girls will be joining us at the pool. Should be fun. Just hope the weather holds out.

We are Sparta

Unsuccesfully trying to catch up on laundry and upload photos from this weekend and for some reason my blog was calling. Flipping through the millions of channels on Uverse and 300 caught my eye. It is quite easily one of the goriest movies I've ever seen but it's so good!

(When Cosmo snapped this photo he said, "T is towering over both of you." I had no idea how tall she's getting. I'm wearing flip-flops in this photo and T is barefoot. I think KJ is wearing flip-flops, too. Scary thing is, KJ is really catching up to me.)

Where last weekend was all about lacrosse, this weekend is all about dance team. The girls have been down at UAB since Thursday for camp and have had a really good time. Very nice group of kids, nice group of supportive mom's. Thursday night was the team competition and today they will get the results (after the competition a bunch of mom's went out for margarita's and I had to take the snack basket and drinks to the girls when the got back to the high school). Yesterday was All-American try-outs for the senior girls only and 5 out of the 7 senior Bnettes made it! Yay Tbone! I drove downtown to watch T perform at 3:45 PM and ended up staying until the end of the night. I had dinner w/ the girls and helped carpool a bunch back to the high school (while the rest of the campers eat in the dorms or in the dining hall, our girls had their meals catered to them. I know that sounds super obnoxiuos but one of the mom's works at UAB and uses their catering services for various events. We each paid $50 and rather than have the girls eat fast food all week, UAB let the girls eat in a private dining room, complete with cloth linens, and had wonderful lunches and dinners ready for them. One day they had a potato bar, one day was pasta, one lunch was wraps and last night we had ham, green beans, mac & cheese and strawberry shortcake for dessert).

I don't know how these girls do it. Seriously. They've been practicing all week for the team competition and had to be at the high school by 7 AM Friday and Sunday to be at UAB by 8 AM each day. After being at camp all day for 12+ hours, they practice at the high school for an additional 1-2 hours each night. Saturday T and a couple of the other seniors took the ACT's in the morning and then danced until well after 10 PM. Cosmo had to rush downtown bright and early this morning because one of the girls left the spirit stick in my car last night and they have to turn it in this morning or get points taken off their total score for the weekend.

While I was spending the day at UAB, Cosmo took KJ tubing on the Cahaba. It sounds like it was quite an adventure! KJ texted me and said, "this is the most redneck thing we have ever done!" Cosmo swears he heard the banjos from Deliverance playing in the background. He said they had fun but he had never seen so much Natty Light consumed in his life (which is saying a lot considering his wild partying college days!). He said there were a lot of tatoos, not a lot of teeth and a lot of women wearing bikinis that really shouldn't be wearing them. I think at one point someone even offered KJ a beer.

Couple Appreciation Day

Today is Couples Appreciation Day! I'm not really sure what it is, but if you are one half of a couple, CONGRATULATIONS!

Some of the longest married celebrities:

John Travolta & Kelly Preston
They have been married since 1991 which is 20 years.

Tim McGraw & Faith Hill
They have been married since 1996 which is 15 years.

Tom Hanks & Rita Wilson
They have been married since 1988 which is 23 years.

Danny DeVito & Rhea Perlman
They have been married since 1982 which is 29 years.

Mark Consuelos & Kelly Ripa
They have been married since 1996 which is 15 years.

William H. Macy & Felicity Huffman
They have been married since 1997 which is 14 years.

Ben Stiller & Christine Taylor
They have been married since 2000 which is 11 years.

Kevin Bacon & Kyra Sedgwick
They have been married since 1988 which is 23 years.

Denzel & Pauletta Washington
They have been married since 1983 which is 28 years.

David Duchovny & Téa Leoni
They have been married since 1997 which is 14 years.

Warren Beatty & Annette Bening
They have been married since 1992 which is 19 years.

Michael Douglas & Catherine Zeta-Jones
They have been married since 2000 which is 11 years.

Michael J. Fox & Tracy Pollan
They have been married since 1988 which is 23 years.

Matthew Broderick & Sarah Jessica Parker
They have been married since 1997 which is 14 years.

David & Victoria Beckham
They have been married since 1999 which is 12 years.

David E. Kelley & Michelle Pfeiffer
They have been married since 1993 which is 18 years.

Ozzy & Sharon Osbourne
They have been married since 1982 which is 29 years.

Will Smith & Jada Pinkett Smith
They have been married since 1997 which is 14 years.

Valerie & Coach
They have been married since October 1992 which is almost 19 years.
HA! Just making sure you were paying attention!!!

Seriously though, Coach said the sweetest thing to me the other day. I was telling him about some friends of ours who are going through a rough time and he said, "They'll be OK. They're a good family and will get through this. They're like us, they go through a lot of stuff but always have each other." Aaaawwww!

peace

Enjoying a few moments of peace and quiet in the house. Cosmo is at All-star practice, T is on her way to her All-star practice after a full day of Buccanette stuff and I just dropped KJ off at a pool party.

I can not say enough nice things about this sweet little group of KJ's friends. They are all very, very nice girls. No drama queens, no meanies, no divas, no boy crazies. It's very nice and refreshing. I hope they don't change when middle school officially hits.


T-Bone had a busy day as usual. She had to be up at the high school at 1:30 PM on the hottest day of the year in full dance hair and make-up and costume(s) for photos with the football team and cheer squads. So, since she had to be in her orange sparkly for the professional photos, she came over to the hotel beforehand to take some photos for her media guide ad. This is one of my favorites of the day but she's not too crazy about it. She likes the ones in front of the castle.

I love this Sony camera that I've had for years and years. It's not complicated to use and takes incredible outdoor photos. My indoor photos aren't that great but I don't think I'm using the correct setting half the time. I think I could be dangerous if I had a really good camera. I've had this Sony for so long, I've had to have the shooting button replaced. One day it just popped off.