End of Summer.... bummer....

So, summer is coming to an end at the Pettey household! We have started soccer practices and Football practices... the girls and I took a quick trip to our friends, the Hoffman's, in Fresno to swim in the pool...

We had loads of fun! The weather was warm but not extremely hot (low 100's).

Then Sunday evening, we headed to Pismo Beach... You know, we live so close but we have never stayed there as a family... so we decided to play tourist in our own neck of the woods. The girls LOVED being able to walk out of the hotel and down to the beach. We never moved the car, we walked a mile down the beach to our favorite chowder place, Splash Cafe, for dinner. We walked across the hotel's parking lot to Marie Calendars for breakfast, we ordered lunch from Marie Calendars and I walked over to get it... we had a great time. Bekah swam in the pool for hours! We walked on the beach and found these little bitty crabs and 3 unbroken sand dollars. We played in the waves... it was wonderful!! There is a HUGE brush fire that is just south east of us, that has been burning since July 4th... the smoke makes for some amazing sunsets!









We came back today and now have to get ready for school to start Thursday... sigh... I love summer. I am bummed that it is over.

2:26 am................

So, here I sit, at the computer... sounds from the living room confirm that the teenage girls here for a sleepover aren't sleeping. Why do I sit here still? Thinking that I can outlast them? Thinking that I might hear a bit of their conversation and get a feel for my daughters friends? Thinking that if I go to sleep now, I will oversleep and not be ready when their parents show up tomorrow? I don't know why, but here I sit.

My daughter turned thirteen yesterday. I am the mother of a teenage girl. I am really NOT happy about that! NOT! She is already hormonal and hard to live with, now I am going to have to start letting her be... just a little... on her own. Maybe that is why I am sitting here. I am not fond of one of the friends that is here, and there are two others that I barely know (in fact, I find it interesting that neither family came in to meet us before leaving their daughter here to spend the night! I would never do that! What if we were somehow deranged?) and I am trying to get a sense if my daughter makes wise choices in her friends... 2 of the 5 girls she invited, I think are pretty trustworthy... but the jury is still out on the others.

I am wondering if they will help my daughter clean the living room before they leave... there is confetti and starburst candies and m&m's everywhere... I think they were having a "food fight" with candy!

My 9 year old wanted SO BADLY to be one of the big girls... she stayed up until 2, but is finally asleep... I will not be happy if those shrieking, giggly girls wake her up! She wants to be 13 also, but I am glad that she is still in single digits!

So, it is now 2:37, the lights are back on in the family room... they are being noisy... WHY did we agree to a sleepover???? Did she catch us at a weak moment?? Was I not really paying attention??? I did this 2 years ago and vowed NEVER to do it again... but, here I am!

Heaven help me... I just went out to get a glass of water, and there was talk of "bases" and I am sure no one out there plays softball! I am SO not ready for the teenage years!! I have to trust that I raised her this far to be a smart, sensible, modest girl. I have to trust, because I am not always going to be sitting in the other room listening... and I am not ready to lock her in a tower... not yet anyway!

Well, It is time for me to go to bed I think... I can't outlast them, but I can trust that she is who I think she is... someone who will NOT be talked into breaking the rules... someone with an ounce (or more) of sense... someone who will look me in the eye tomorrow and tell me what all happened while I slept.

Moments in time...

Ok, so I have been challenged to record the next ten minutes of my life...
8:40pm- why would anyone want to know what I did for ten minutes? Really?
8:41pm- my head hurts! I have a sinus thing going on and the area behind my left eye is throbbing... it makes my eyes water... I wonder if the computer screen helps? hahaha
8:42pm- Hmmm... my husband will be walking in the door any minute... do I really want to be here on the computer? But I have to, I have 7 more minutes to go...
8:43pm- Why am I hungry? Maybe my sinus trouble has screwed up my hunger sensor in my brain... Or, maybe I just need ice cream...
8:44pm- Ok, so my life is pretty boring... did I tell you that we went up north to see Hannah's Birthmom Lauri this past weekend? Maybe I should blog about that, instead of my hunger pangs!
8:45pm- My house needs to be cleaned so that Hannah can have a sleepover party on Friday... why am I sitting here? It is like there are magnets in my rear that keep me from getting up... that and I have 5 more minutes to record!
8:46pm- Have you tried diet pepsi Jazz- Strawberries and cream? It is so good! The empty can on my computer tower can attest to that!
8:47pm- Bekah is out watching tv... the amazing thing is that she hasn't yelled for me to come and get her something or "watch this commercial cuz I want that toy" or anything... Hmmm... maybe I should go check on her!
8:48pm- wow, just two more minutes to go... Tim still isn't here, so that is good! I am going to go clean up the living room tonight... just as soon as I finish this blog post!
8:49pm- My head still hurts. It helps to close my left eye, but then my right eye starts to hurt...
8:50pm- well, there you have it, nothing earth shattering happens in my life! That is a good thing!

Ok, so that is over, let me share a bit of our weekend trip.
We went up north to visit Lauri, Cameron and Julie this weekend. Lauri is Hannah's birthmom, Cameron is Hannah's 14 year old half brother and Julie is Lauri's mom.
We all went on friday morning. We got to Julie's about 3:30pm. We had dinner with them all at Julie's house. Then Hannah, Lauri and Cameron went bowling. Tim, Bekah and I stayed and watched a movie with Julie. Then Hannah spent the night with Lauri and Cameron and we spent the night at Julie's house.
Saturday, we went swimming and I hit a scrapbook store. Then we drove home. It was a quick trip... but Hannah had requested some time to get to know Lauri a little bit better, and I think that was accomplished. Here is a picture of Hannah, Lauri and Cameron... remember, he is a year and 3 weeks older than Hannah...