'Tis the Season...

...for Christmas parades through downtown...

...and sweet smiles brought to you courtesy of a Sonic bribe...

...which was followed by some other facial expressions that I will let you label...

...because my descriptions would be marred by the memory of 'tween attitude that accompanied these photographs...

...but quickly turned to joy at the light of the tree post-parade...

...and the appearance of the Chik-fil-a cow because, honestly, no event is complete in this town without them... (and I mean that in a "Jake Roye blesses this community continuously" kind of way...)

...I must admit, though, that her expression quickly turned to giggles as we noticed a section of lights were out on the community Christmas tree...

...but, as the man behind us put it, "it looks like home"...

...and it was a delightful evening - that is what I choose to remember! :-)

Pup Finery

Sometimes, because I have a daughter who's reached the age where letting your mother participate in any type of wardrobe decision is not politically correct, I decide to dress up the pups. Of course, because I'm married to a tough guy who refuses to let his dogs look like "sissies," the pup finery is limited to a bandana here or there...

Clearly Rambo is as much a fan of being a model as Taylor...

Prissy was so excited about her hot pink frock (complete with rhinestones, I'll have you know, though they're not visible) that she simply couldn't hold her eyes open any longer.

Rambo was then so overcome with embarrassment that he couldn't look at the camera. Ironically, while taking a photo of a different subject, I managed to get a decent shot of the girl. Go figure...

After a couple of hours (what we'll deem the "adjustment period") Rambo was feeling more comfortable with his new look and decided that a photo to commemorate the occasion wouldn't be so bad after all...

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for sweet Perkie who continues to avoid my camera like the plague. Clearly she and Dave have more in common than previously thought.

Christmas on Fifth

What do live nativity scenes...

...beautifully decorated Christmas trees...

...a daughter who is clearly THRILLED to be hanging out with her mom...

...and Pat Neff Hall being lit all in green to signal a Baylor victory have in common?

Why, they were all on campus last week at the same time for Christmas on Fifth!

This has quickly become a "girls night" for us and our tradition includes capping it off with dinner at IHOP. Despite the story told in the picture above, the girl was extremely excited about this event.

I truly thought she might hyperventilate when Robert Griffin III walked right by her after encouraging the crowd to attend the bowl game from the giant stage. Shock and awe, friends - shock and awe.

She was disappointed that I wouldn't go ice skating with her (yes, they brought a rink onto campus) but don't believe the story that I was being mean. It's just that I didn't personally want to ice skate in front of students and co-workers. And she refused to do it alone, which is ironic because she wants to do most everything alone these days. 

All in all, it was a delightful evening that will forever go down in history as "the night RG3 walked right by me."

Yes, friends, I believe we have a full-fledged 'tween on our hands.

Sic 'Em Bears!

The girl and I had quite a busy day last Thursday. What began with D.A.R.E. graduation ended with a Bears basketball game, Christmas on Fifth and IHOP. It was, as this season tends to be, a marathon and not a spring. But we enjoyed every moment of it...

Since I've already shared about the big essay and graduation, I'll now move on to the basketball game.

Riveting. I know.

Anyway, this was our first (but most definitely not our last) game of the season. As you may already know, the Bears went to the Elite Eight last year and, quite frankly, were one erroneous charge foul away from the Final Four but I digress...

Point being - they're GOOD, y'all.

Last week they played Arizona State and the game was televised on ESPN2. I have no idea why I felt that need to share that with you but I'm sure you're used to the random that is my life by now, right?

It was an absolutely delightful game, in my opinion. This is where I should probably indicate that "delightful" for me is defined by "we won." Complicated thinking, obviously.

My girl, in what appears to be becoming a pattern, was most excited about seeing the new scoreboard. It is a dandy one, that's for sure. She was most impressed and even took pictures of it with her own camera, which is a feat most inanimate objects (or people, for that matter) attain.

Isn't it pretty?

Speaking of pretty, the stars aligned just right and the girl allowed me to take a photo of her. In public, y'all. And I thought it was a mighty nice one, too.

See?

After the game we rushed across campus to enjoy the Christmas on Fifth activities but I'll save that joy for another day. Wouldn't want to cross the line into fun overload, would we?

On another note, have I mentioned the Baylor football team is going to the Texas Bowl? We (and by "we," I mean Dave) had a hunch so we made hotel reservations a couple of weeks ago and our tickets are en route. I would like to thank the team for making Christmas gift giving so much easier (and enjoyable) this year.

If you think my hair and I won't be totally out of control with excitement on December 29, well, it just may be that we don't know each other that well after all.

With that unnecessary piece of information, I bid you adieu on this brisk and chilly Thursday. :-)

D.A.R.E. to be Different

Disclosure: After leaving this event, I realized my camera was on the wrong setting pretty much the entire time. Therefore, the quality of these images is less than the average cell phone. Please accept my apologies. :-)

My girl has been going through the D.A.R.E. program this year as part of her Language Arts class. While I initially couldn't see a correlation between the two, it turns out that you must write an essay to graduate from the program and therein lies the relationship.

At least that's my understanding.

Which means it could be 100% wrong. 

Anyway, last Thursday was the big graduation and my girl begged me to rearrange my schedule so that I could attend. Because she's unwilling to be seen in public with me the majority of the time these days (have I mentioned that she's a full fledged TWEEN?!?!), I quickly jumped at the opportunity.

The night before she quickly informed me that I no longer needed to come. Nope - not even appearance was necessary. Clearly this was a red flag that indicated a need for prying. And I learned some delightful (to me and yet mortifying to her) information. But I'll leave you hanging for a minute...

May I present the D.A.R.E. officer?

Ok, here's your first clue as to why she didn't want me there...

It turns out that she won the essay contest for her class and had to read it - OUT LOUD AND WITH A MICROPHONE - to all in attendance. We couldn't have been more proud. She did a really fantastic job as well.

All of the respective winners received a D.A.R.E. gift bag complete with pencils and a sharpener. Her obvious delight at this gift made me question all of the purchases I've made for Christmas because it would appear we could have gotten off a lot cheaper.

But I digress.

Clearly my photography skills are mad, y'all, because I managed to get a fantastic photo of my child receiving walking off the stage after getting her diploma.

She also received a medal. Which broke before she got home. But she fixed it all by herself. With tape, no less. It's now her pride and joy, which is only fitting, because she is ours.

Blinding Light

There are few things I love more than our church, y'all. Quite frankly, the group of women with whom I spend my Wednesday nights in the Mom to Mom class are some of my favorite people. And not just because it provides a mid-week respite from child-rearing and work. Or the fantastic meals served beforehand that are complete with dessert I feel a NEED to eat because it would just be rude not to partake.

We laugh. We cry. We grow. We celebrate. We comfort. We support. And we talk. A lot.

On the way home from our trip to Cowboys Stadium, after I'd had one of those parenting moments I'd like to forget (and did ask forgiveness for) after melting down over Tay losing her phone less than two months after getting it, I randomly decided to check my email.

This isn't something I do on a regular basis when I'm not working because I like to unplug (a bit - there's still Twitter and Jewels that call my name) and hang with the fam...but I felt a need to check it and so I did.

What I found there made my jaw drop because one of the ladies in our Mom to Mom class, who was only 36, passed away unexpectedly on Thanksgiving evening.

I didn't even know what to say to that, y'all, because it broke my heart. Last Tuesday I attended her funeral and my heart was further saddened by the many pictures of her enjoying life with her husband and beautiful children.

WHY?!?!?!?

That's what kept running through my mind. Over and over and over again.

Fast forward a bit to last Friday night when Dave and I took food over to the family. We visited with her husband a bit and I was overcome with sadness. The kind you just can't shake off. And it lasted through an unplanned movie night with the man and the girl. And kept me up for quite a while as well, which gave me some time to pray. Repeatedly.

When I woke up Saturday morning and headed to Zumba, I was feeling better but - to be quite frank - my heart still hurt for the family left behind. And then it happened.

While I was working out and wondering how I can do this type of workout every week and still look so awkward, the sun shone brightly - and I do mean BRIGHTLY - through one of the windows and directly in my eyes.

That light seemed to follow me no matter how much we moved around (which is a lot) and was so bright that I literally had to look down...

Out of nowhere these words came to me and they have stuck with me - HE'S STILL HERE.

In all of the darkness and sadness of this fallen world, through tragedies that will not make sense on this side of heaven and pain that seems relentless. No matter what, He's still here.

He's sitting on the throne surrounded by a dazzling and blinding light that we can't comprehend but rely upon each and every day. I have no idea why this happened but I do know this - He's still here and He's not going anywhere.

And that's enough.

I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.

Jeremiah 31:13

When you have big sisters...

...it's just easier...

...to sleep with your bone...

...just to be on the safe side...