Did We Look Like This in 7th grade???

Kami just finished up a 5 week etiquette and dance class, with a finale being a formal dinner and dance at Southern Hills Country Club. Here are the 30 girls gorgeous young women and boys who participated.

Here is a little zoom in on Kami and three of her friends. I know I am biased towards these girls, but is their beauty not, well, um, outstanding if not a little disturbing? What happened to the "ugly duckling stage" that girls go through? Or was that a little story that my mom told me to make me feel better about my middle school years? (Similar to the story that cotton candy tasted like peanut butter?!! I believed that one for years!! I hated peanut butter so I never ate cotton candy)

See for yourself below the ugly duckling in 7th grade. I actually had to drag out this picture so I could verify my thoughts on how I looked in 7th grade. I wanted so badly to have Farrah Fawcettish hair, but it did not work out for me. Granted I was not dressed up in this pic, but I have some of those pictures too from 8th grade graduation, and believe me, it was not one of my proudest moments. The saving grace of this picture is that I had just started wearing contacts! You should see my 6th grade school picture with my big brownish plastic spectacles. I really loved those glasses. I'll spare you that picture for now. Back to Kami's event...

Here is Kami and her cousin James. My dad's brother's daughter's son, also a 7th grader and part of the cotillion.

I got to go take pictures of the kids as they arrived at the dinner and dance. This horrified Kami. And she was thrilled to see me walking my hiney out the door for the rest of the evening.

Kami and everyone we talked to had a wonderful time at the dinner and dance. They had to use all their table manners and other etiquette lessons throughout the evening. They danced using different dance steps and with different partners.

I don't know exactly what to think. Maybe every generation thinks the next one is "growing up way too fast." It just hard yet a blessing to see our 12 1/2 year old making such strides towards being a young woman. My prayer is that her inner beauty is what will shine... her love for God and others. And to answer the question posed in my post title, HECK NO!!!!

Desperate Days Call for Desperate Measures

On a day when I had my children shovel 6 inches of snow off of our entire driveway...

(1 hour of energy burned)

and took them sledding on an enormous hill

the closest thing to a ski slope we have here in town....

(2 additional hours of energy burned)

And on a day when my boy is still bouncing around like silly putty at bedtime,

The couch becomes a landing pad for his crazy football-catching stunts.

No, I don't let him (or anyone) jump on the couch, not usually, (uh-uh!)

but since today,

we are on Snow Day #10...

daddy is out of town...

and momma desperately needs her boy to get a good night's sleep....

The couch will be ok.

(another hour of energy is burned.)

Good night!!!

Smudges

No griping at kids,
no forcing them to clean it up
with a rag and spray bottle of kitchen cleanser.
Just a slight grimace
overcome by a smile and recognition:
this won't last forever,
so enjoy the sweet smudges
{they're only smudges}
while you can.

Perfect Pairings Job 37: 6-7

For more Perfect Pairings, visit Baloney.

Homebound

Being homebound with the kids because of record snowfall on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday brings a blizzard of feelings and thoughts.

I find myself caught between 2 extremes: 1) wanting to play family games in front of the fire and 2) knock out a few walls and remodel the top floor of my house. What to do?

So I have done a little of everything the last few days and who knows how many more.

(I'm a little worried we won't go back to school until March. There is more snow in the forecast and Lord knows we Southerners do not deal well with even an inch or two of snow, much less 14!)

My current list of accomplishments:
*Taught the girls to play backgammon.
*Had my hair cut and colored (my neighbor does my hair! - I skiied over to her house)
*Cleaned out a junk drawer and filled it with organized files (why is this type of organization so hard for me? I think I am ADD when it comes to this!)
*Blogged a little
*Had the kids do a little homework/piano practice (not easy, I tell ya)
*Straightened up my closet
*Watched Toddlers and Tiaras with Kami (great mommy/daughter time, right?)
*Fixed some homemade chicken and noodle soup that reminds me of granny.
*Entertained the kids' friends.
*worked on nominating a new Exec board for next year's PTA

If I got all those things done, why do I feel so worthless and slothful?

My kids had a singular purpose today, and that was to build igloos in the snow. And work they did, all day long. They are feeling particularly accomplished with their igloos. One of them has four tunnels that meet together in the middle. I think they could sleep in there. And another has a tunnel long enough to fit three kids in it... they called it their fox hole!

I am wondering how much longer we will be homebound and what I will get accomplished tomorrow?

A Real Live Oklahoma Blizzard

Today, we received a record setting 14 inches of snow! 20-40 mile per hour winds! Arctic temperatures!! Never seen anything like it in all my days!!!