Superior Moments

I'm a great aunt (no hyperbole, really)! Introducing my great nephew Levi, pictured here with his bevy of beautiful cousins. I remember the day Levi's mom, my niece Allison, was brought home from the hospital and she was so tiny my sister dressed her in a pink doll dress. I can clearly remember the first time she was put into my nine year old arms. Now she is a serene and amazing mom of this little guy. Kinda blows my mind!!

This is Littlest on her way to her first day in school!! We both survived.

My dear, dear blog friend Pseudonymous High School Teacher honored me with an award this week. The blog that originated this award, Scholastic Scribe, started on my 40th birthday (a random yet interesting fact).
I pass this on to a couple of Austin bloggers Rockzee and The Bean. (Not quite five, but two well deserving) They will find the rules here.

Career (Mis)Management Monday

Tomorrow is a big day for me, both professionally and as a mom. Professionally, I have reached the point where I feel competent enough in my freelance income generating ability to warrant sending littlest to school two days a week. This may not sound like a big deal, but trust me--it's HUGE. I have the income coming in to pay for her schooling and still help keep the family from teetering over the edge of financial ruin (barely). It feels pretty damn good.

As a mom, in eight years I have been away from my children rarely. There have been a few date nights, one school overnight trip when I was teaching and an afternoon of traded babysitting with a neighbor here and there. I don't say this to get my card punched in the Mommy Martyr Hall of Fame. It was quite deliberate on my part. I grew up with a mom who wasn't there for me, even when she was in the same room. I want to be there for my daughters and have probably gone a little too far in the other direction.

Tomorrow I will drop Littlest off and be child-free for seven hours. Ack! I will get tons of work done (after I cry my eyes out and throw-up). Wish me luck!

Fourth photo

I saw this over at only a movie and thought it would be fun.

The rules of the game:

1. Go to the the 4th folder where you keep your pictures on your computer.

2. Post the 4th picture in the folder.

3. Explain the photo.

4. Tag 4 fellow bloggers to join in the fun!

So here is the fourth photo from my fourth photo folder and...it's not too exciting. This is Biggest's second Christmas. This is our first Christmas in our CT house (yes, that is the arm of a plastic chair that was an integral part of my living room furniture at the time). I think we cut that tree down ourselves. Wait, now I remember we got that tree at the locally owned nursery just down the road from us. We bought our first flowers for our gardens there in the summer. Biggest loved it because she could ride around in a little red wagon while we perused the rows and rows of plants outside. We came back and bought our tree from them and the owner had three teenage daughters who worked in the shop. I remember thinking maybe I would have three daughter and raise them in these Connecticut woods...


So now I tag pseudo, beth, kerfuffle and VM (she so loves to be tagged).