And then it was over...

Today is the girl's last day of fifth grade. There have been ups. There have been downs. There have been a lot of laughs and some tears. Lots of maturing, studying and growing up. 

And Taylor has has an interesting year as well.

Oh, I jest, y'all...

My girl walked out of the house this morning as a fifth grader for the last time. In a few short months she will begin her last year of intermediate school. 

With an incredibly young mother in tow.

And I kid again...

In all honesty, we all need a break. Time to recharge. A clean slate. A new chapter.

As always, God has provided exactly what we need when it's needed more desperately. We are incredibly grateful and are looking forward to an amazing summer. It's a very busy summer, for sure, but I've learned that time passes quickly and you may as well take the bull by the horns and enjoy every possible second.

Tonto been the main teacher of that lesson. :-)

And, for good measure, may I present my girl on the last day of school...

She was incredibly excited about taking pictures before 7am. And it shows. But that's ok - it's documented for posterity now.

Yes, these were taken with my point and shoot because I couldn't find Carl.

Carl is my camera's name.

Yes, we name inanimate objects in our home.

For instance, my car's name is Bob.

No, I'm not kidding this time.

Because you've now been subjected to our very own version of crazy, I'll give you an old pic of Rambo I found on said old camera this morning...

Happy Friday! Happy Summer! :-)

Mad Dash to the Finish

The last week of school...

...is, quite frankly, just a mad dash to the finish at this point.

...appears, to the outside observer, to be spent playing a lot of games with little instruction. :-)

...is rough.

...contains a dance dress rehearsal and recital.

...gave my child a chance to show off her guitars skills but her mom completely forgot about it and missed it.

...said child didn't even want me there to begin with but then wanted to know why I didn't come.

...obviously didn't find me earning "Mother of the Year" honors.

...makes me wish I'd done a number of things differently throughout the year.

...makes me realize how much my girl has accomplished - and how much things have changed - throughout the school year.

...makes me wistful for this day...

First day of fifth grade

...makes me realize just how much my girl has grown up this year.

...has me wishing for summer so badly that you could probably even talk me into wearing a swimsuit at this point.

...finds me being one proud mama as the girl earned Commended performance on two out of three TAKS tests. And miss the third by only two points. 

...reminds me just how much I love being a mom.

...gets me excited for the first day in the fall. I know, I know, I'm a dork...BUT I just love the clean slate a new school year brings.

...has be busily planning multiple summer camps, a weekend trip to San Antonio, a weekend trip to Oklahoma, a beach vacation to South Padre and multiple outings with both the man and the girl.

...is a busy but sacred time because these days will never come again. 

...and I wouldn't miss it for the world. :-)

Wordless Wednesday

Like a Ghost

Sunday morning I had a little extra time since we were having church services out at the lake so I decided to get my workout in before heading out. Rambo has thing thing about remaining directly under my feet during any and all exercise activities. Eventually that becomes, as you can imagine, difficult to deal with so I finally picked him up and put him down on the loveseat.

He apparently decided a pillow was needed as he watched the remainder of the train wreck me do a little Zumba. When I turned around and saw this, I stopped dead in my tracks.

Why, might you ask? Let me present Exhibit A.

Uncanny, isn't it? I, of course, immediately sent this image to Tonto and the reply was, "that's almost scary..." We've long said that Bo must somehow be communicating with Rambo because their personality traits are so stinkin' similar. This only confirmed that belief. :-)

And just because it made me miss our sweet boy, here's my very favorite picture of him.

So thankful for the little ball of sunshine named Rambo - he brightens even the darkest day. And has the sweetest face EVER, y'all.

Don't Say I Didn't Warn You

Though I alluded to his cuteness yesterday, I thought photographic proof was the right thing to do...

I truly just want to eat him up with a spoon some days. And I tell him this regularly. He looks at me like I'm nuts each and every time.

Some days he has this sleepy look that takes his adorableness off the charts, y'all.

But last night he cried for his blankie and then spent 20 minutes playing with and chewing on it.

Sent me over the edge...

...because it was like having a baby boy in the house again. :-)

Then he gave me this grown up dog look and the mood was broken...

...but he recognized the one who takes him to daycare (Dogtopia) was not at all happy and quickly reverted....

...which earned him...

...a Friday trip to said daycare to play with his friends!

Happy (long) Memorial Day Weekend, friends!

Thursday Bullet Points

The end of school year drain has officially hit my brain, friends, so my coherent thoughts per day have been severely limited. That should explain the bullet points below...

• My girl is struggling to finish the school year strong. It's most ironic when you find out she forgot homework in not one, but two, classes on the same day while learning simultaneously that she earned a Commended score on the science portion of the TAKS test. She is beyond burned out. I am beyond burned out. But there are only five days left after today so, you know, HALLELUJAH! (Side note: no, we do not condone poor behavior simply because one is "burned out." She has been punished and we're still expecting her to finish strong. Just wanted to throw that out there :-)
• Rambo continues to be the most adorable puppy ever, y'all. Though I haven't photographed him recently you'll just have to trust me. Truly precious. Love, love, love him!
• Zumba isn't for sissies. Particularly when you've had surgery in the last month.
• Dance recitals aren't for sissies either. Apparently the agony and ecstasy of such a production had escaped my mind since the girl chose gym for a number of years before a broken elbow caused a detour.
• The ramifications of a broken elbow continue to live on, though thankfully only psychologically. For instance, when asked if she would like to participate in gym again, I get the following response coupled with a sad face: "I can't...I'll just get hurt..." Breaks my heart, y'all! But things could be so much worse....
• I started a new study on Revelation and it is awesome. Truly. I love studying end time events but really don't have a firm stance on how I believe things will shake out because my opinion is that it won't matter as long as heaven is the destination :-)
• Finally writing thank you notes for all of the love, support, flowers, etc. we received after we lost the baby. Took me a solid month to be able to do so but, seriously, we are so BLESSED to have precious friends and family! And I'm thankful.
• A three-day weekend is desperately needed...
• My heart hurts for all of the people who have lost everything in the recent tornadoes, floods, lightning storms, etc. Such heartbreaking stories that only One can redeem. Thank goodness He can. And does. :-)
• Happy Thursday!

They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because He is Lord of lords and King of kings...and with Him will be His called, chosen and faithful followers.

Revelation 17:14

Wordless Wednesday