MOVING IN MONDAY MADNESS (August 15, 2011)

Okay, if you're up to date on my previous post, you know that I accidently posted this on my "jami ainsworth portraits". If you're not, I did. So please click HERE to view it. Cari has been doing a great job blogging too. To view her post, on this go to this LINK: MOVE IN MONDAY. If you would like to follow her journey as she embraces this new chapter in her life go to this LINK and save it: CARI IN COLLEGE

Cari has already done several posts. I am very proud of her.

FEELING VERY STUPID....

Yes, I feel very stupid. I spend over 2 hours working on a blog post about Cari moving into her dorm. I thought I hit PUBLISH POST w/o acutally going to Previw post. I was just ready to be done with it because I had put so much into it. My thoughts were if it needs more editing that i would just add that later. I quickly remembered that I wanted to add a link to her post about the same thing on her new blog. After walking around here doing a few things, venting to my hunny when he brought me a diet coke (I am out) and venting on the phone to my good friend, Pam, I decided to go back the drawing board and do it again. I wanted it to be posted and updated. I have a few more posts that I've been wanting to do, but I really need to do this big one before I moved on. Now as I think about I should have noticed it because when I did my "label" words, I didn't already have the ones that I used in a previous post. That should have been trigger, but at the time I was thinking well...maybe I didn't use those words last time. Anyhow...I am feeling really dumb. This is certainly the drawback to having mulitple blogs. I have done this before, but it was usually mixing up NATALIE'S WORLD and this one (Worth Remembering) NOT... "jami ainsworth portraits". Normally I think if I accidently do a blog post on "jami ainsworth portraits" I would delete, but not this time. This one was too long. So I guess I just made my business blog really personal...oh well. If i knew how to copy and paste into blogger, I would and if any knows how to do so, please comment or message me on facebook to tell me how. Because as far I know, anything in blogger has to be composed in blogger. Trust me I've tried. So if you want to hear about MOVING IN MADNESS at Worth Rembering the link is provided in the title of the post.

WHAT I WILL MISS...

SOME OF IMAGES OF THE THINGS THAT I WILL MISS...

Above: Last Dance Recital

Below: Me and My Bestfriend (from prom)

Below: Cheering at football games (August 2010--Jamboree) Below: Dancing in the Nutcracker (November 2010--Snow Queen) Above: cheering at pep rally (October 2010)
Below: Dancing in the Pilgrimage (April 2011) Below: Dance Recital (April 2011--the dance she choreographed) Yesterday was the day, the whole story on that and the images behind the story will come later this week when I find a few minutes to get them edited just a bit. I will tell you I didn't cry like I thought I might, but I cried a lot over the last year or so...maybe I had much of it out of my system. But mostly I think it is the peace that only comes from God. Peace in knowing her heart is in the right place and that this is where she is supposed to be. I wanted to be light hearted about what I want miss because yes we don't miss everything about parenting when that phase is over. I miss my children being babies like their laugh or smile or them wearing "what I want them to wear", but I don't miss them being sick and not being able to say their ears or tummy hurts. Today I blog from an empty nest...these are some things I know I will miss about my last child not being here our home:

1. 
   
   Not seeing her leave here and/or taking a photo of her on her first day of school. Maybe she'll ask her roommate to take one since she is documenting and blogging too now.



2. 
   
   Her fashion opinion. You know--"which shoes look better?" I definitely trust her opinion on that one more than her dad's.



3. 
   
   Watching her cheer. She cheered two years and in jr. high and two in high school two. The two that she didn't cheer was kind of nice staying home watching TV with my love while she was out with friends watch the games...but not as nice as watching her perform. She also glows when she is doing what she enjoys.



4. 
   
   I will definitely miss our spur of the moment shopping trips. You know "retail therapy" or you realize you won't get another break in your schedule so this is a good time to go shop for new shoes, dress, whatever you're needing for whatever is coming up. It was so nice when she could do these shopping adventures with me. We have the same shopping style...a must for a good shopping partner!



5. 
   
   I also love her opinion on what really looks good on my when shopping. Now I am going to have trust my own and opinion along with the mirror. OH NO! Yeah, I am definitely going to miss that too!



6. 
   
   More along the shopping note: I am going to miss having her with me to pick up the case of diet cokes or case of bottled waters. I have had to learn to NOT pick them up because of my back issues.



7. 
   
   I am going to miss watching her dance. These past few years she has danced her home pom routine/dance (whatever you call them) for cheerleading, she has danced in the Nutcracker, she dance in the Natchez Pilgrimage Pageant (again whatever they call it--they changed the name this year) and her end of the year recital dance. I will miss seeing her radiance when she danced.



8. 
   
   I will miss watching TV movies like Lifetime Movies or series or renting DVDs. We love a good "chic flick"! I will probably even miss her watch Dirty Dancing for 100th time!



9. 
   
   Cari loves to cook. And who doesn't love living with someone that loves to cook. I will definitely miss her cooking for us. Sometimes she would just give me a break and cook the whole meal.



10. 
    
    Above all, I am going to miss my best friend. We've shared so much the last few years. Our family has gone through many ups and downs. We could talk to each other about things that no one else would get, but I could also talk to her about almost anything. I guess she will still be a text or a phone call away, but not like being in next room. I will miss this more than words can express. But I am so very happy and excited that my best friend is living the dream that I didn't get to do! LOVE YOU, GIRL!
    

NOTE: Have you seen Cari's blog lately? I hope she keeps this up. She has been blogging almost daily the last few days about her transition to college. Be sure to follow her: CARI IN COLLEGE

WHAT I WON'T MISS...

Tomorrow is the day. The day my baby girls moves out of her bedroom (her space for the last 11.5 years) into her dorm. Today I celebrate this rather than cry! I will cry later, but not because I am sad because I am happy and proud. If anyone knows me well at all, they know I cry...cry when I am happy, cry when I am sad and sometimes I just cry. But today I will be a little wistful and think list all that I won't miss...because honestly as much as we miss so much about our children growing up there's always things that we won't miss. Don't you remember when you're baby woke up around the clock for feedings? Did you 'REALLY' miss that when they start sleeping all night. So here goes...

1. Getting her up for school. She's not now or nor has she ever been a morning person.



2. Her messy bathroom. Okay, it's not really her bathroom. It's the hall bathroom and we all use it. Her long hairs everywhere, ponytails, bobby pins and many other things piled up on the vanity in that bathroom will not be missed at all!



3. Cleaning up the mess she leaves after she cooks.



4. Telling her to clean her room.



5. Watching football/basketball games. No I am no sports fan. Occasionally I really get into an LSU game or a Saints game, but normally I would rather do anything but.



6. This question, "Is my _________ clean?" or "Where is my _________?" Feel free to filling the blank with words like school shirts, cheer tops/bottoms, dance items along with many other. She nor I are as organized as we intend and tend to procrastinate too much most of the time. I hate that I past this on to her...but at least now it will be on her...not me!



7. She loves to cook. And sometimes she cooks food that I should NOT eat. It is easy enough to avoid eating the wrong foods when they are NOT in your home...not so easy when you have to smell cookies, cakes or other sweets that I have difficulty resisting. So I won't miss her cooking those things. Okay, maybe I will....



8. I won't miss telling her to clean her room. I hope she does a much better job with her dorm than she did her room.



9. I won't miss staying up late to make sure she comes home safe when I already really tired or setting the clock to wake myself up to make sure that she comes home safely. Okay, I am sure there will be weekends that she's be home that I will still have to do this. So never mind on that one...



10. I won't miss her unplugging my lamp to charge her cell phone and then forgetting to plug it back up. I realize this when I got to turn the lamp on. This will probably like #9...it will probably still happen sometimes.

I am sure there is more that I can add to this list. But you get the picture. I am trying to not be sad, but to be optimistic and think of all the things that are positive about not having a child (this one in particular) living at home.

FLASHBACK FRIDAY...

This sweet, sweet, beautiful baby of mine,

who was this happy, gorgeous, big-blue-eyed girl of mine just the other day....

is now all grown up and now an elegant, equisite, young lady.

Who enrolled at her college of choice 2 months ago, will be moving into her dorm at ULM in a few days. She gets to move in early because she was selected for CAB: Campus Activities Board. To say I am proud of this child of mine, I mean young lady, is an understatement!

Birthday Celebration at the Lake [August 6, 2011] and the Surprize at Mimi's house

Friday night we had a family dinner, minus Cari who chose to go on a date rather dinner at the Ducks Nest with her family...imagine that! An 18 year old girl who would rather go out to dinner with a her "new" guy rather than eat with her family! After dinner we all stayed at the lake house on Lake St. John.
Saturday morning Randy and I got up and about rounded up the rest of the lake things that we didn't bring to the lake Friday night. By the time we got out there again, it was lunch time: Sandwiches and chips. We were still waiting for more extended family to arrive. But it was time for us to start playing.
I don't have anything on this blog about this yet, but if you follow us on facebook, you already know that this little girl was fearless last year and began attempting knee boarding. An adult put her own the board, but this little girl could ride. Since then her daddy learned of a new knee board that is lighter and thus even easier for little people or smaller people to ride. It was intended for 120 lbs and lighter. So that excludes me! She took to it right away!


I don't have the really good close up photos. Since photography is what I do all the time, I get tired of using a camera "just for fun" more than others do. Brittany knowing this from last year asked about using my good lens. So there you go...

I love the above image of Brittany capturing images of Natalie on the knee board and the one below of her daddy watching her.

We all loved watching her. She had a ball and it is always fun to watch the little ones do activities that usually only bigger kids do! Right?

She is just so adventurous and fearless. Later in the day, she attempted to stand on the board. This one is designed so that you can. At least I think it was. There was a photo of a child standing on it. If it can be done, we want to try it. Or this case, wanted her to. She did try and she tried it repeatedly, but never got up completely. As frustrated as she was, she kept trying. She reminded me of her Aunt Cari with such determination! We all loved watching her.

Above: Poppa watching his little sweetheart; Below: Aunt Cari watching her little niece.

Cari and her new guy, John Mark. This was his first day to spend time with our family. I immediately understood why Cari said that her first date with him was the best date she ever had. He was sweet, friendly, accommodating and very helpful in spite of his very serious injury. [Yes, he has a broken arm. He broke his arm upper arm bone (the name of that bone does not come to mind at the moment). His doctor has said it may be 6 months before it is healed and there is a possibility of surgery. Yeah, it's pretty bad! But that didn't seem to slow him down a bit. BTW...he broke his arm while arm wrestling. Yeah, crazy, huh?]

Cameron (aka Natalie's Daddy) helping with the ropes and Brittany photographing her.

Cameron on the wake board.

Natalie was very tired.

Natalie looking at some of the photos on the back of the camera of her.

Cari's turn on the wake board.

John Mark begged us to let him one-arm on the wake board, but we would NOT let him. Just kidding, even he knew better than that! So he just watched like me and Randy.

Daddy letting Natalie drive the boat.

When the rest of the family (my mom, sister, her friend and my niece) arrived, we decided we would go ahead and do the cake. Natalie blew out another#6 candle and had more presents.

These photos are me trying to document who all was there. I see everyone except my sister, Jackie. Now I am not sure where she was.

Posing for pics...

Eating icing off the candle...

[The cake was made by Kate, my good friend. She also made Natalie 3-layer Luau cake or birthday last year. She, her husband and son, Cash, came later that evening after he woke up from his nap. He fished off the pier. It was his first time to fish.]

Poppa picked out this movie for Natalie. He wants to watch it on his new TV and new blu-ray player with Natalie. Our weekend was so busy that we didn't get to do that. So, Brittany, when you see this, in case I forget to remind you, please bring this the next time y'all come in so that she and Poppa can watch this one together.

Aunt Jackie, Jamie and Brooke got Natalie this gift. She love it!

Gigi sent some money for Natalie a gift and I knew Natalie had shown me some Barbie items that she was interested in one day when we shopped after her Manner classes a few weeks ago. So I picked this up for her. Later she told me she wanted the Dentist Barbie. But when you shop at the last minute like her MIMI (me) does. You can't be picky! And that's Gigi (my mom) in the background.

Mimi got her this one...

It was a fun day playing water sports, fishing and visiting at the lake. It was also very, very hot and tiring. I hate that I did not get a photo of Natalie with each of her out of town guests nor with Cash and his parents or the gift he got her or the cute little bag that Kate had it wrapped it. It had her name on it! I think the heat just wore us all out. As the sun started going down, Randy and I fixed burgers and served them with chips and dips. Some continued to fish after dinner, some even played a game of poker (Cari and John Mark were the last two in the game and I was told she won. I wondering if he let her win. Guys do that sometimes to make their girlfriends feel good. Nah, it was probably fair and square.) Some fell asleep in front of the TV, but one very tired little girl put herself to bed.

The next day after church we met back up at the house (after the out of town guests had went home) and surprised Natalie with her birthday surprise. Poppa is making her lay her face down on his shoulder until we got there.

SURPRIZE!!!

She did say she liked it, but she wasn't that EXCITED! Maybe it was because of the 100 degree heat or maybe it was because really wanted to play with the kittens. We told her she couldn't play with them yet because their mommy was feeding them. So she says, "Can I swim?"

Oh well...she will have many hours of jumping in the future, but not many more days of swimming since she starts back to school this week.