About last week...

When I said we barely made it through last week, I was only about half kidding and I was mainly talking about me.  I barely made it through last week.

I was supposed to get my second Botox treatment Monday morning.  I've written about my allergic reaction and the resulting months long headaches.  I'd say Botox was a huge success.  I had a headache a couple of days after treatment but then I had a 54 day streak of no headaches.  Woowhoo!!

I woke up Monday morning with a raging headache.  I was outside in East Texas all last weekend at Zac's baseball tournament so I figured it was allergies.  Unfortunately, my doctor was sick Monday so I didn't get treatment.  So last week (and this week) was back to near constant headaches.   Monday night was especially difficult at Sam's athletic banquet.  Two hours of applause made me hurt so badly I was almost sick to my stomach.

The rest of week I had commitments every night, my favorite being Jersey Boys! Going to bed early wasn't really an option so I slept in each morning.  My definition of sleeping in is getting up at 6:15 am to get ready for school.  Usually I get up at 4:30/4:45 to do my devotional and prayer time.  Then I clean the kitchen before laying back down until 6:15.  It's weird but it started when the boys were getting up to go work out early. I'd get up, see them off, do my thing and have time for a cat nap before they came home. 

I didn't realize how much I need that morning time with the LORD until I didn't do it.  I felt far from the Him.  I felt off.  Some of it was end of the year tiredness.  Some of it was the headache. But I really think that missing my devotional, prayer and praise (I listen to praise music while I clean the kitchen) had a far greater negative impact. 

Now that school's out, I'm working different hours for the month of June.  I decided to change my morning routine a bit, sleep in a little, don't take the cat nap, but keep my devotional/prayer/praise time.  Last week taught me two things:  botox really works for my headaches and I must stay connected to my quiet time with the LORD. 

Last Week of School

Whew! We made it, last week was the last week of school and we all survived.  It was a crazy week.  We had something every night so it was touch and go there for a while.  But we made it.

Monday night was Sam's sports banquet.  He was recognized for Varsity Football, Power Lifting and JV Baseball.  He was also recognized for his 2nd Team All District selection. I use the term recognized loosely.  It's the All Sports Banquet - every kid who played HS sports - recognized means he got his name called and he stood up for 1.5 seconds.  Still, we're proud.

Zac's 8th grade awards ceremony was Friday morning.  He received A/B Honor Roll and an award for highest average in honors history.  He was also recognized for being a 3 sport athlete.

as you might have guessed, I did not take this picture
my excellent friend Shanda took it.

B had awards Friday morning as well. They overlapped with Zac's awards so Sam and his sweet girlfriend attended for me.  B-man received awards for being a good friend (no small feat for a kiddo on the spectrum - suck it theory of the mind!) and being huggable.

look at that face! I also did not take this picture.
my excellent friend Shanda's awesome niece who is also Sam's
girlfriend took it

Friday night was high school graduation.  Our friends' kids were graduation but graduation is always special because I've taught most of those kiddos.  There's always a video of the graduate's baby pictures and a current picture saying what they'll be doing next.  Gets me every time.  And the idea that Sam will graduate in two short years...I can't even go there.

All these things, plus a raging headache, more on that tomorrow,  had me and B...

Momma

My sweet momma turned 70 on Sunday.  Can you believe it? She does not look 70 and I don't think she acts 70.  Actually, I have very little concept of age so I don't know how actual 70 year old people act but she doesn't act like an old lady so I'll stick with my original statement. 

My sister and I tried our best to make her celebration last as long as possible.  We started on Wednesday...

Momma and I go to the Dallas Summer Musicals each month. There was an ad for Jersey Boys in the Playbill a couple of months ago.  I got the tickets and my sister planned dinner for us.  Wow, did she outdo herself! We ate at Dakota's in downtown Dallas.  The restaurant is underground and super fancy.  We ate early so we could make the show so it wasn't very crowded.  It was so delicious!

After dinner we headed over to the AT&T Performing Arts Center.  The show was awesome! We knew, and sang, most of the songs. I wasn't familiar with the story and it was extremely interesting.  Franky Valli is a good dude.  I'm not a fan of the venue.  We sat on a row that was 25 continuous seats.  We had to step over people and be stepped over to get in and out.  I'll stick with Fair Park.

On Saturday evening we had a party at our house.  Ryan was our grill master and served up yummy burgers.  My sister made delicious mini cherry cheesecakes, pico and queso. I order an awesome cake.

My momma is one of eight.  Four of her siblings were able to make the party.  I love my aunts and uncles and was so happy to have them in our home.  Our built in grill has been out of commission for a while.  Last fall we paid a dude a bunch of money to fix it.  He 'ordered' the parts and was never seen again. We did get our money back. Two of my uncles looked at it.  The last thing one of my uncles said when he left was "don't let him forget to call me so we can fix that grill".

My brother and his little kids came.  His older daughter and her family were there too - her son is a show stealer.  He told my uncle "I've got your eyes on you" while pointing his two little fingers from my uncle's eyes to his own eyes. My sister's daughter, my mini-me was there too.  We missed my two oldest nephews - for good reasons, they didn't just flake out.  One was in Arizona to be in a wedding. The other works for the rail road in San Antonio and usually has to work 7 days a week (yikes!).

We had a lot of people! A good mix of older and younger people and a bunch of kids.  At one point, a nerf gun war broke out in the living room.  It made my heart so happy! And it made my momma's heart happy.  She had such a huge smile on her face all night. 

I think it's what she wanted for her birthday. There's no way for us to make her day as special as her but we tried!

Raising Husbands

Last weekend I got my feelers hurt by The Bigs.  Words of affirmation is one of my top 3 love languages - actually quality time, receiving gifts and words of affirmation are all tied for number 1.  Anyway, they missed an opportunity for some words of affirmation last weekend and it upset me. 

Because I'm a 21st century mom, and it's uncomfortable to cry in front of them, I texted each of them separately to discuss how they'd hurt my feeling.  They were, of course, very sorry and had not intended to hurt my feelings. Both conversations were very productive. 

At first I wasn't going to tell them they hurt my feelings but I rethought it.  There are things they are old enough to take care of - holidays are one of them.  They don't need money for gifts. They need a piece of paper, a pen and 5 minutes. 

I have often said that our job is not to raise happy kids.  Our job is to raise good adults.  Adults that have a relationship with God and know how to treat people.  A friend reminded me this week that I'm also raising husbands. 

When I teach my boys how to treat me, I teach them to how to treat their future wives.  Since I've been praying for these way in the future women,  it's only fitting that I prep these boys for them fully.  They know about being respectful.  They know how to clean, although they don't often practice that skill.  They can both cook quite well. 

And now it's time to work on noticing.  Noticing what's important to the people you love and taking action on those things. Noticing what day it is and if that day is important to someone you love.  Noticing how to brighten someone's day.  Noticing when the trash is full and should be emptied (a girl can dream).