My Baby!

Did everyone see Steven's new glasses? I was really mourning his little face without them, but then he put them on and it was ok. I am much more resistant to changes with Steve than I am with Sylvie. I think it's because he's my youngest and any change reminds me that I don't have babies anymore. I know my kids aren't babies, but these concrete reminders really hit hard. I guess I expect Sylvie to be the trail blazer, as the oldest, so her changes are more in the line of, "Wow, look at my beautiful young lady!" With Steve, I always feel just a litlle bit sad, well at least until the event happens. Once it does, it just becomes the new reality and life moves on. It helps that he really looks good in these new specs, doesn't he? Love, Anne

I am the Decider

Jeff hates me sometimes. I have the ability to make decisions very quickly and I very rarely regret them. When we have a decision to make that involves both of us, he likes to mull things over, thinking on the pros and cons, sometimes for days, and then he usually comes to the same decision that I made in 30 seconds. He wonders how I do it. Sometimes his decisions seem spur of the moment, but those are usually prefaced with, "I've been thinking about this for quite awhile". This has almost become a joke in our family lexicon because I hear him say it pretty often. These decisions usually involve electronics and large amounts of money. Come to think of it, purchasing decisions can be the ones that I will stall on, because I'm a cheapskate. Jeff does his level best to make sure he gets the best deals when we want large ticket item, but when you're talking about hundreds of dollars, a good deal on a LCD TV doesn't strike a chord in my cheapie heart like getting something for $6.00 that should have cost $70. Now, that's a bargain! Anne

"Annie" at an End

Sylvie is in the throes of what I call "post play letdown". Her school musical is over. Anyone who has done something that requires weeks of work and fun and learning probably knows what this feels like. You wonder what you are going to do with all of your time now that you don't have this actvity to fill it. You wonder if you will continue to be friends with all of the new people you met and got close to. You can't wait for the next time you get to do it again. She came home from the cast and crew party last night, promptly put on her "Annie" soundtrack, and wept for about 15 minutes. Luckily she had some great plans for today to help take her mind off of it. A movie and dinner with some of her new friends. I hope she has a great time. Anne

A Taste of the Future

Sylvie is getting ready to perform in "Annie" at her school this week. She is one of the orphans. We were trying out make-up today and as you can see from the picture, this might be a little to glam for an orphan. We got it on her and I thought, "Wow, she looks like she's about 17!" Scary. I guess every parent reaches a moment like this with their newly minted teenage daughters, when they are standing on the brink of young womanhood and you look at them and feel all the potential that is contained within. The secret is to look at them and try not to feel too old. Anne

Blog Envy

Ok, I know I'm new to this whole "blog" thing (please picture in your mind, someone smarmy doing that exagerated quotation mark charade manuever with extra curly fingers. It should be evident that they actually hate the manuever and are making fun of it), but as much as I love reading other people's blog's, I am jealous of all of their blog bling (Hey! Did I just coin a new phrase!?) Little things like links within the blog entry, lots of pictures, cartoons, fancy graphics, little movies, and really fantastic writing that seems like they were just talking (albeit, very cleverly) and someone else wrote it down for them. I love people who write like that, but boy does that stuff make me green! I think that through my blog effort, my writing is getting better, but I find myself going back a lot and changing things as I write them. We can't really do that when we talk without sounding like my college biology professor. We got so distracted by the number of times he said "um" in class that we counted them and missed what he was saying in between. No problem explaining my B- in freshman biology. My brother-in-law, Tom, is one of these people that have lots of bling in his blog. As an example, I would have loved to have Tom's name be able to link you to his site right there in the body of that sentence, but I don't have a clue as to how to do it. He is my go to guy for the neat stuff I already have (see neat cartoon with link on sidebar), but the best I can do is refer you to his blog website address also on the sidebar(not far from the cute cartoon). I guess I'll have to call him and spend some time with him on the phone again, or maybe he gives lessons? I can see the ad now..."Is your blog boring? Is your writing bad? Call me, Tom Smart, for lessons in up to the minute, cutting edge bling on your blog!" I think there could be a market for that. Anne