A First Day of Many Sorts

What an emotional roller coaster the "first day of school" is for a mommy. Some of my firsts on Monday were:

1. Relinquishing my "mommy control" to total strangers.
2. Watching Alyssa's daddy pack her school lunch and include a special love note for her eyes only.
3. Rushing to put on mascara and lipstick on in the morning so that a little someone could get somewhere on time. (Usually I am running late all on my own)
4. Crying first thing in the morning at the precious thought of Alyssa beginning a life journey.
5. Having a 5 year old tell me "enough pictures".
5. Having butterflies in my own stomach. (No Alyssa was not nervous, she is soooo like her dad)
6. Chasing a school bus (without my child on it) just to be nosy and see what route it takes at 7am in the morning. (By the way, I lost it somewhere ...... long story)
7. Signing a kazillion papers from school as a "parent/guardian" of a student.

I can't help to wonder how many other firsts I will have this school year.

Lame...I know

I know it is very lame that almost 2 weeks have passed and I have not posted to some of my favorite blogs, including my own. Although, it has been kinda interesting because friends and some family have called/emailed asking why have I not posted, so at least I know someone is reading our "stuff".

Well, out of the classroom has afforded me very busy summers of training science teachers around the state. Summer is no longer a down time for me, so these past 2 weeks have been a whirlwind. Let's see, I have been to a town of strawberries (Poteet, TX), a town with nothing but Dairy Queen (Dilley, TX), and a town of Pinatas (Eagle Pass, TX). Gotta love the Lone Star State! Oh yeah, and in most of these places there is no Internet connection so no 5 minute blogging breaks for me. So, I feel like I have a million things to say, but today I will only focus on a "Choked Up Last Night".

Yep, it was open house at Lissy's new "Big-Kid School". Luckily I had my point and shoot to share some of our night. My sweet little 5 year old newborn will be going to kindergarten. She calls her teacher "Miss Honey" from the Matilda movie, but her real name is Ms. Gonzales. Lissy can't wait for Monday morning, she even wants to ride the school bus! What the heck! We joined the PTA, put money on her lunch account, she found her classroom and seat, bought some spirit stuff, and filled out a ton of papers. On her information sheet we had to put the name she likes to be called, I asked her if we could put "Lissy-Lou-Lou", "Love Bunny", "Love Button", etc. You can imagine what her response was: a roll of the eyes and "Mommy, I want people to call me Alyssa". I want to be selfish, and wanna know a SECRET? I don't want her to grow up. I want her to always snuggle and have tiny fingers, tiny toes, play dress up, and make beautiful macaroni jewelry.

Best Shot Macro Monday

It's A Macro Monday for me! Have a look at some great Best Shot Monday pics that other mommy's have posted! Share yours, we would love to see!

Today I sent Lissy out on a scavenger hunt with me trying to find something "green" for the theme of today's Macro Monday. She found this beautiful Coneflower growing in our flower bed. I did not plant it there though. Hummm...... really weird. I think maybe it was growing the the same container as something else I had planted, because it was a close neighbor to a Canna. Anyhooooo.... it is a real beauty. It looks like it has about 3 more blossoms on it, I can't wait to see them all. I know, it isn't really green, but has some green, does that count? I am a sucker for this macro lens, let's me get up close and personal with some of my favorite things.

Theme Thursday: "KEY"

Thursday's Theme: "Key"

The KEY to loving life is having fun and sharing it with special people. Of course one of my favorite "people" is my princess Lissy-Lou. Now that I am a mommy sometimes I think, gosh....what was my life like without her. How boring it and I must have been. She is my joy, my inspiration, my funny, my everything. Life is so much more colorful and rich with my little princess.

So many times I have fun just through the window she provides me. My Thursday picture is into her window of having fun at Fiesta Texas this past week. She loves the Wave Pool. She is still so little that those waves keep knocking her down and she thinks that is just the coolest thing. She does not see drowning as an option, so we have to keep a close eye on her. Even though she is a great swimmer, I wonder when she could possibly catch her breath with those waves sucking her down. She thinks she is ready to master the ocean and start surfing North Shore. Oh Alyssa honey, keep giving mommy some more windows so that I can have some fun with and through you.

Wordless Wednesday

A wordless Wednesday for me.

Surprise: I am a Square!! :)

Today at work I had to classify myself as a shape. The shapes we had to choose from were:

1. Square (organized, everything has its place)

2. Triangle (some structure, sometimes in a leadership role)

3. Squiggly (very flexible, easy-going)

I am a square. But my friends and colleagues said I needed to clarify that I am a square with work and home, but my friends say my personality is a squiggly. I am still trying to figure out how that is. What are you?

Best Shot Monday

Thanks to Tracey at Best Shot Monday, for encouraging me to get my camera and take some random shots. It is a Macro Monday for me!

Living in the country has afforded us sightings of many hairy, icky, loud, slimy, pokey critters. We have porcupines, coyotes, opossums, scorpions, snakes, geckos, racoons, tons of birds, etc....etc..... Last month as soon as sunset would hit, there was a loud ruckus going on in the trees. Me, being the insect lover I am (yes..I know I'm weird) I found the culprit...it was katydids! Being fairly new to Texas, this was an awesome surprise. Last month there were thousands, this month, I had to hunt to take a picture one! Where did they all go? Summer is not over, how dare they, we still have a couple of weeks!