And the world keeps on turning.....

Wow, what a Fall we've had.  Shannon was in a community theatre production of Snow White, my boss died, Shannon actually failed at something, we took part in the local haunted house contest with our neighbor and won!!!  Now Emma has a part in a local theatre production. 

Shannon attended a volleyball clinic and did really well, then tried out for the team.  Unfortunately during tryouts the pressure got to her and she totally flamed out.  But I think it was good for her because everything has always come so easily for her.  Then she got the part in Snow White, so it was all good in the end. 

My boss had been battling lung cancer for some time, but had been lying to us about how sick he really was.  We figured it out when he started calling us at home one night because he couldn't understand why we weren't at work and why it was so dark out. We couldn't make him understand it was 11:00 pm, not am.  Then he called his kids and told them no one was at the office because we all went fishing without him.  It was very sad.  He was gone within a month, leaving behind a huge mess.  He hadn't let us tell anyone he was sick, left no provisions for the company, so we had some very upset customers and very few answers.  His son and daughter decided to keep the business running through the end of the year and then reevaulate.  But they are no involved at all.  We're just trying to keep our heads above water.

Emma and Shannon both auditioned for The Wizard of Oz, and Emma was chosen, but no call for Shannon.  I'm holding out hope, but it looks pretty doubtful.

There has a been alot of excitment in our area tho.  There have been three movies filming in the area! 

I'm just kind of hoping things will quiet down for awhile, but I doubt it!!!

Shhh! It's a secret!

We are currently babysitting a guinea pig. Now, I really don't like them, they kind of creep me out with their little legs and giant heads. So you can imagine how I felt about this. The girls both begged me to let them watch Eddie and it was only for two days, so, OK. Well, now it's been a week. Eddie is finally going home, and you know what? I think I will miss him. We don't really have much extra space so his cage is at the bottom of the stairs. Every morning when he hears me coming down the stairs he runs over and makes these odd little noises. So I sit and pet him. He is just the funniest little creature. He actually has won me over.

Just don't tell my kids.

It's amazing

how quickly time flies. And, the longer you "think" about writing but don't actually do it, the harder it is to do. One would think that there would be much more to say, but instead, it just ends up a jumbled mess in my brain.

This summer has been all about the kids, well, mostly about the kids. Which is how it should be. Emma had her first Mean Girl encounter, lost a friend over it, but handled it so well. She took a cooking class, had a blast. She also played softball this year, had a great time and made some new friends. AND she topped it off by cutting 8 inches off her hair!

Shannon has been continuing that oh so wonderful journey between tween and teen. She also played softball (with tears), got a part in a community play production (more tears), tried out for volleyball (made the "C" team - LOTS of tears) and generally gave me a giant summer long headache. She went to several different day camps - one for show choir, one for basketball and one for volleyball (no tears!!). BUT, she also cared for her sister all summer and made a few half hearted attempts at cleaning the house.

My boss is dying slowly and painfully from lung cancer, something I wouldn't wish on anyone, so the employees are running the show (or, more likely, the patients are running the asylum) and trying to downplay it to our customers.

That, and a few trips to the pool and water parks (I'll write more about that later) and movies pretty much sums up our summer.

I'm going to TRY and get back into the writing groove again, but I make no promises. That's if anyone's reading. So if you are reading, hope you had a wonderful summer and stop back on by!!

A parental victory (athough a small one)

Shannon had her first dance last night. I'm sorry, "a social", not a dance. We went shopping for a dress, which she NEVER wears, which resulted in her crying in the dressing room saying she was never shopping again. Apparently all the other girls were talking about the dresses they were wearing, and she couldn't find even one that looked right on her, at least to her. We talked and I explained that it was more important for her to be comfortable than wearing some dress that she felt awkward in. And I told her we could put together a really cute funky outfit by just changing up some stuff she had and maybe adding some accessories.

We decided we could work with a really cute blouse she had, bought her a new jacket and necklace and went home to put it together. Then she couldn't find the blouse. After searching for nearly 20 minutes I finally found it buried in a pile in her room. The inevitable question followed: would I let her wear makeup? I thought about it and told her as long as I could do it, she could.

We put her all together and I've never seen her look so happy. She practically glowed. And guess what? No other girls were wearing dresses and everyone loved her outfit. When she got home I thought she would never calm down. But about a half hour later, she was practically dead on her feet.

And I FINALLY got some bonus parent points.