There IS a light at the end of the tunnel

And we are seeing it more and more often!  Our sweet Gabrielle is returning to us more frequently than the grumbly, just-as soon-bite-your-head-off-as-say-good-morning one who has blessed our house for the past two years!

Archaic mom...

In one of our ongoing discussions about why Gabrielle needs a phone...

Gabrielle:  "I can't even call anyone over spring break because I don't have a phone."
Mom:  "Feel free to use the house phone."
Gabrielle:  "I don't have anyone's phone number."
Mom:  "You can't ask for a phone number because you don't have a phone??  I'm confused."
Gabrielle:  "What am I supposed to do?  Write it down on a piece of paper?  That's so 10 years ago."

Identity crisis.

I have become accustomed to being greeted with "Hi Tyler's mom" or "Hi Gabrielle's mom".  (For some reason, Evie's friends all seem to remember my name and I am either Ms. Lori or Mrs. Arseneault to them.  Sometimes the pronunciation is not spot on, but it's always close.)  I apparently now have a new identity.  I have become "Mrs. Coach", which makes me laugh because I COMPLETELY understand not remembering someone's name--I am the worst at remembering names.  And due to our crazy soccer schedules and the fact that Dennis is Tyler's coach, which means I am at Gabrielle's game if there is a conflict, I am frequently not present at Tyler's games and practices.  I get that it's hard to remember a name of someone you see infrequently.  But seriously,  "Mrs. Coach"??

Dodged a bullet!

I took Gabrielle shopping for her Valentine's Day dance, which is a formal dance.  She picked out a few dresses, and I held up a few, showing them to her for her approval (I did have a couple that passed muster!).  Into the dressing room we went, and she tried on the first one, which hung off of her by at least 3 inches.  Back into the dressing room and out she came in a dress she had picked out.  It was one shouldered, sequined, clingy, and short, and she looked amazing in it...too amazing for a 13 year old.  As my mind was running with "how am I going to say "no" without causing a scene right here in the dressing room?" she looked in the mirror and said "There's no way this will ever pass dress code" and sashayed back into the dressing room to take it off and try on the next one.  PHEW!!!

Getting used to it...

So I remember a conversation with my next door neighbor about how she didn't get attached to her daughters' beaus because they didn't necessarily stay around long enough, and the one she did get attached to-well that break up was as hard on her as on the daughter.  And the conversation just recently came flooding back to me, because the new "interest" whom I had just barely met, apparently is suddenly much less interesting.  And I'm left thinking "But he's so polite.  He came right up to me and asked me how I was and how my weekend was going.  Are you SURE you're not interested anymore???"

Thankful...

My to-do list is at least a mile long, but I have to sit down and think/write about this NOW.  First, a little background information. 

On Black Friday, I reminded Dennis that if he was close to spending $50.00 at Kohl's, to make sure he did get to the 50 because Kohl's was giving $15.00 Kohl's cash for each 50 spent.  He was bringing G and T shopping, and I thought there was a good chance they'd get there.  So he came home having spent...$48.00. (In his defense, he had spent 50 before the 15% off coupon I gave him.  He just doesn't know how to shop at Kohl's!!)

You guys KNOW that Black Friday is NOT my thing, but I was so annoyed, I took the receipt and went back planning to spend the additional couple dollars in order to get 15 more to spend.  Obviously, I was meant to be there so I could get this reminder to hug my kids and be thankful for amazing people.

I stepped into line at customer service, behind a woman who made me do a double take.  It was a mom of a kid in Gabrielle's class, and she was bald.  I stammered "hello" and her name, just to be sure it was her.  She kinda chuckled and said "I know, I look a little different."  She then proceeded to tell me that her son (a year older than the one in G's class) was diagnosed on Halloween with osteosarcoma, and was just about to begin his second round of chemotherapy.  As I was biting  my lip, willing myself not to cry, she mentioned that the family had shaved their heads in solidarity.

We have just become friends on Facebook, and I looked through her home page.  What she neglected to mention is that FIFTY people shaved their heads in solidarity with her son, including some of his friends, his aunts/uncles and cousins, and members of his swim team.

Why the blog?  First, to express how thankful I am for the health of my family.  Gabrielle's sprained ankle suddenly seems little more than an inconvenience.  Second to express how thankful I am that people still CARE in this world.  Sometimes it seems that everyone is out for themselves, and looking at the pictures of young girls in the prime of the "worrying-about-their-looks-phase" who not only shaved their heads, but also donated those ponytails to either Locks of Love or the Great Lengths program...well it made me cry.  (surprise, surprise, I know.)  Somehow it was a great reminder that THIS is what the holiday season really is all about.

What a turnabout!

I believe many of you had heard my rants about how I was NOT going to spend my weekends driving around the state for my kids' sporting events, because I have three kids and it's not fair to the others to drag them around and blah, blah, blah.  And you probably heard me eat some crow last year when we allowed Gabrielle to try out for the Spring Select soccer team, (which involved weekend tournaments in Mesa, Gilbert, Tucson, Prescott, Peoria, and Southern California) and I really enjoyed it, and so did the rest of the family.

Well, fast forward to this year, and we are all in.  There is no denying that we are a full fledged soccer family now.  Gabrielle is playing club soccer, and Tyler is playing both rec league and club soccer until the end of December, and then Dennis will coach his all star (Spring Select) team from January to May.  And Evie is everyone's favorite "goal can passer", for Gabrielle's team, and the girls and their parents all love her.  So this was a tournament weekend, which meant 2 games Friday night, 2 games for Tyler on Saturday, 1 for Gabrielle, and 2 games for each today (Sunday).  And what did we add to the mix??  A 7:30 pm US Women's National team soccer game last night, because 3 games in a day just wasn't enough!