The Inevitable....

I knew it would happen one day. After all, most of us have been there.

I was 28.

My sister was 18 or so.

Dave was 20, 24, and 45.

What am I talking about?

Car accidents.

Yep.

I got a call from Alex today around 11:30.

"Mom, I just rear-ended someone."

Great. Had the car for a month......lovely.

Newly activated light, trying to change lanes, light changed to red, and boom.

I said, "I am on my way to meet you."

Alex..."Why? I am going to school." (note: he attends a charter school in the morning and his regular high school in the afternoon so was enroute.....)

Fortunately, he hit a good person.

I asked, "Was the guy young or old?"

Answer....."Maybe early 40's."

Hmmm......so is that young or old? I'd rather not hear the answer.

But this 40ish man had no damage to his truck. Alex hit the trailer hitch. Nothing happened to the guy's truck. Thankfully.

The guy also said, "We can handle this one of two ways. We can call the police but then they'll give you a ticket for following too closely. Or, we can just exchange info and you can handle it on your own."

And again he said, "My truck is fine."

So, Alex headed back to school all while I worried about the extent of the damage which we are NOT going to fix anytime soon.

He got home and I saw.....



Definitely cosmetic. Definitely nothing major. But definitely not fixing anytime soon.

Just very thankful for that trailer hitch. If that was not there, the entire front of the car would likely be messed up.

But more thankful that the accident was minor.

----------------------------------------
Follow up......Called the gentleman Alex hit who again confirmed there was no damage, said how polite Alex was when they were talking about the options, and said there was really nothing Alex could have done to avoid the accident. It was one of those start/stop kind of traffic patterns....and then someone in the very front stopped for some unknown reason. Alex tried to stop, but couldn't. And, by only going 15mph, it really did help keep the damage level down.

He said...."I was in his shoes at his age. I hit someone, no damage to the vehicle, so no police were involved. I wanted to do the same thing for him. There is no point in having this on his record when no damage was done."

My Two "Old" Babies

This week has been hairy-scary.

This week has been hectic.

This week has brought many challenges both at home and school.

But this week also reminded me about two great kids.

It's the last two weeks of school, kids are crazy at school and home, meetings and decisions at school are pushing me over the edge, so I'm in a downward spiral.

And, of course, daddy is out of town.

Kid Number One to the rescue.

Katie didn't have to work the earlier part of this week so came home for a few nights. She picked the girls up at school, did hair, make-up, nails, and shower time.

I got to stay at school, work on my endless paperwork, and not have to worry about little people interferring...which, shockingly enough, they do quite often.

Tonight, I headed out to Alex's spring voice concert. The girlies didn't want to come so I planned on finding a sitter since Katie had to go back to school/work.

Let me tell you, Katie had a fit.

No random person was going to stay with her sisters.

Now, I have a list of co-workers who have teens who sit, but that wasn't good enough. Katie had to actually know the person.

So, she found a sitter for me. Her high school buddy and current roommate, the "other" Katie.

Enter Kid Number Two...off I went tonight to the aforementioned voice concert with school work in hand.....might as well start working on scheduling classes as long as I have the time, right?

Alex did not tell me what he was singing.....and he got to choose the piece. He just said, "some dumb song" but with more choice words.

Turns out, he learned a James Taylor song to surprise me.

So, in one week, one kid intervened when mom was losing it and found a cool babysitter.....

and the other chose to surprise mom with a song.

Pretty awesome week now that I think about it.

(Here is Alex tonight...the sound is a bit off at the beginning and the lighting is terrible....but you get the idea.)

Save me from the madness....

Tonight’s before dinner conversation:

Me: Girls, do you want chicken nuggets or the (leftover) chicken from the oven?

Anna Grace: chicken nuggets

Abby: chicken

Me (heaving a big sigh): Abby, what kind of chicken? Chicken nuggets or chicken from the oven?

Abby: chicken

Me (now a tad exasperated): I gave you a choice. Chicken nuggets or chicken from the oven?

Abby: regular chicken

Me (said with a growl): What is regular chicken? Your choice is chicken nuggets or chicken from the oven.

Abby: chicken nuggets

Please excuse me now while I go beat my head against the wall.

Disclaimer: we don’t typically have choices regarding the dinner menu but when daddy is out of town and mommy is tired, all bets are off.

Anna Grace's First Communion

Anna Grace made her First Communion this morning……



She’s talked about it all week, all day long, to anyone who would listen. I’m pretty sure the whole school knew.



And me? I was dreading it.

After all, this is our challenging child, the one who purposely does things wrong in church to make my blood pressure increase, and who spent Easter with her dress hiked up around her hips while she fixed her tights.

Sigh.

Today, I started thinking back to her baptism almost seven years ago. She’d been with us for only two months at that point but was already pushing buttons….after all, she and I spent most of her baptism Mass walking the halls and almost missed the main event.

I heard “And now, it’s time for our baptism….” and came running.

“I don’t wanna be still. Put me down.”



“Who me? Whatcha lookin’ at? I’m not doing anything wrong.”



Flash forward seven years, and that fourteen month old baby is now a seven year old second grader.

One who was very excited about this new event in her life.



But as we know, nothing with Anna Grace is like it seems.

New, larger tights were purchased to avoid the whole “dress pulled up” event since that would surely detract from the ceremony….especially since she was in the first row.

Yes, you read that correctly. The very first row. Ugh.



All during Mass, I watched her chat with her neighbor, one of her best buds from the two-year old room at daycare, dance in her spot, spin her dress, and be, well, Anna Grace.

She did glance back at me during the service……



and showed she was totally excited to be there.

She was the second child to make her First Communion. And after that??

She spent her time critiquing each child who came behind her.

“He’s not folding his hands right. She did that wrong. Did you see him?”

For 62 children. Her teacher was cracking up.

Mass ended, reception followed where she dashed from Point A to Point B like a house on fire, ripped off her veil and waved it around, and was a general menace to the public.

Found Father Dan…..



and grabbed a photo before she took off running again and promptly tripped herself.

Kawhump.

Headed outdoors for a family photo



and one with her godparents



all while remembering seven years ago…..



We’ve come a long way, baby.

What I Learned Today....

As Mother's Day approaches, the girls have been busy at school creating surprises. Today brought the cards.....

I learned......

Both girls know I am 44.

That I always say, "clean up your playroom."

Making cookies is evidently something I love to do.

I'm funny when doing cartwheels. (like I've done that recently, geesh)

I weigh between 40 and 50 pounds.

My favorite thing to do is stay home and nap. (Alex said the same thing 12 years ago!)

My dress size is "about big 6's".

It's good to be with me during a thunderstorm.

And I look pretty when going out to eat (you know, that one time a year we go!).

But the best thing was the original poem from Anna Grace:

Mom, you're so sweet as pie.
You're the best mom I ever had.
I wish you'd never die.
But that's part of our life. Too bad.

Phi Mu Mothers and Daughters

Last Friday, I had a night alone, in a hotel room an hour from my house, with my Chick Fil-A dinner, chardonnay, and The Royal Wedding repeat.

Wow. What a concept.

Alone, in a hotel room, doing whatever I want.

Well, for two hours.

Then Katie showed up after work.

More wedding, chatting, catching up, until I crashed.

After all, I am old and she is not.

Up the next morning for the March of Dimes walk near her campus. You see, it was Mother/Daughter day at Phi Mu.

A 3.5 mile walk followed with lunch on campus.

My old, out of shape body and I were dreading the miles.

The first mile went by quickly.

Wow, I can do this.

Then miles two and three flew by.

Hmmm....I'm thinking we really didn't do 3.5 miles. After all, we finished the whole thing in under 40 minutes while casually walking.

But, it wasn't a race, they already had our money, so who cares if the miles were crunched. Seriously.

Pictures, visiting, and chatting ensued. After all, put a bunch of chicks together and what do you get??

Headed off to campus for a casual lunch and meet/greet of other sisters and moms.

It was wonderful to meet the girls Katie has talked about all year....as well as some other moms!

Looking forward to the next Phi Mu Mother and Daughter day....