I have a teenage daughter....

and it makes me sad, but happy. 13 years (and 9 months ago) I never thought I would be a mom so early. It was hard...really hard. I can't imagine how my life would be without her. I am so happy this gift was given to me - and even happier about the time I received it. I would not change it. Things definitely happen for a reason. Happy Birthday, Madison!!


Deep breath = no tears :*(

okay so here's what we did this weekend - Madison had a Wyldlife meeting Friday night. I was pick up for her, Amelia and Matthew. Amelia spent the night, Emma-Leigh ran a fever...

Saturday morning we were supposed to be in the "Asheville Holiday Parade". Kristi had asked if the girls could ride in her sister-in-law's Excursion limo and I would walk with her, handing out candy canes. I knew the girls would enjoy that but since EL was running a fever the night before and was still asleep at 9am Saturday morning, that didn't happen. So when she did finally wake up, we were off to watch the parade. Sleeping beauty and Amelia decided to stay home.. here's Ethan (waving) and Aiden (red hair) on the float.

And Kristi -

After that my camera battery died - so no more pictures :( When the parade ended we met Kristi, Ethan and Aiden at the mall. Then went to Chili's for lunch. I brought Ethan back home with us so he and EL could play for a little while. They played SO well together. He is such a little gentleman! I love him. Saturday night we went out for dinner at Ianucci's for dad's birthday. Brett came home from Prague the night before so it was nice to all get together and hear about his trip.

Sunday the girls and I went to church. Pastor Bruce was not there but there was an excellent guest pastor. His name was Pete Wilson and he has a church in Nashville. At first glance he does not look like a preacher - more like a rocker. His message was great! He was talking about what to do/where to turn when life (i.e marriage, job, children, etc.) doesn't turn out the way you had planned or had hoped it would. I wish Damion had been there.

After church we went home. Damion wasn't working yesterday and we were gonna go out to lunch for Madison's birthday. She picked PF Chang's and by the time Damion agreed to go there, mom and Brett had already called wanting to know if we wanted to go skating with them. Of course, the girls wanted to go skating but we were already on our way to lunch. Then it was like I just snapped - you see, I feel like my children are spoiled rotten. They are so ungrateful. Here we were on our way to have lunch at an expensive restuarant and they decided they wanted to skip lunch and go roller skating!! They were whining and I had had enough. So, since I was driving and was fuming mad, I decided to turn around and go home. No lunch, no skating. You can only imagine what happened next. All heck broke loose in the car. Damion was even asking if we were really heading home. Yes! We are going home - we can eat sandwiches for lunch! A few hours later we went to Papas and Beer - mine and Damion's choice. The little problem with our children is this - they don't understand that we are in a recession, that their dad is a builder and there are no homes being built. The other problem is that we have created these monsters.

So here we are at Monday. The first basketball game is tonight so no birthday festivities for Madison. Her joint party with Amelia is on December 11th so she will have to wait until then for presents!