get off the sidewalk!!!

dear readers, the streets are no longer safe...

i passed my test.

i am now licensed to drive.

Jinge refuses to let me near his car *tee hee*

and Trout is scared to ride with me, but the girls agree that I drive better than he does...

check that off the list...

as this is finals week, I will let you know what I get and what I will have for next quarter....

but I know for a fact that I have an A in Comp I, the rest, well...

You'll find out when I do.

Sique

reunited and it feels so good...

after 3 months of eating, fishing, go cart racing and playing catch on the roof of an historic 3 story home (more on that later...) my preciouses are finally home, with 15 pounds extra around their waists and 7 boxes of stuff in the back of the van...

they nearly bowl me down after class, screaming and yellin' and nearly tearing me in two telling the story behind everything they've brought back...

i walk to the kitchen and start on a chocolate chip pie as I'm treated to the stories behind Superman wallets , the reason why Tae has boots that are a size 8 on one foot and 81/2 on another; the reason why Moe has over 40 tops but only 5 pairs of pants the new assistant band director and why I get a call one day from my Mom that went kinda like this:

"uh, [Sique] you need to tell the girls that playing tag- a small voice in the background protests calmly :

"Actually, it wasn't tag, it was catch, Gran"

"That doesn't matter, it was on the roof!' she yells , hand over the mouthpiece, (like that ever works).

"Mom, did you just say on the roof?"

"Yes."

an evil grin curls the ends of my mouth in spite of myself. I try to keep my voice even and calm.

"of your house?", with the slightest crack of laughter in my voice.

"YES!", with a rather large crack of irritation in hers.

a silence lays over the phone line as the mental image becomes clearer in my mind:

two tall , high yella girls running and tossing a football to each other, jumping over eaves and overhangs, squeeling and laughing, blocking and tackling each other some 30 feet off the ground...

the grin spreads wider.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" my mother's voice booms through, reeking with anger that only makes me grin wider.

"Who won?"

"Who won? they were on the roof , THE ROOF, they could have hurt themselves, or worse and all you have to say is 'who won?' "

"yeah. they made it down alright, didn't they? put Moe on the phone would you?"

after a garbled that gets a "Grandma!" out of the girls, and what sounds like the receiver has been thrown, my 12 year old is on the line, her voice ,as usual, full of sunshine and rainbows.

"hi mommiiie!"

"hi baby, why were you playing tag-"

"catch, mommy"

"ok, why were you platying catch on the roof, honey?"

"we were bored. " she starts to explain as if I asked her how was lunch "we went up there the to look at the stars, but it clouded over a few minutes after we got up there-"

"whoa. you were up there at night?"

"yeah." as if to say 'when else would we be up there?'

"we just came down to get ready for bed. but anyway, it had clouded over so Tae went down to get the ball and we played catch until we had to take our baths."

"fair enough, but that little stunt has cost you 10 dollars." (I rarely have to physically punish my girls...I always find that the best way to discourage certain behaviors is to hit them where it hurts...their Kool -Aid wallets)

"but, moooom!" (that sound never gets old!) "we were going racing this weekend! can't it just be 5?"

"nope. ask again and it's going to be 15. pout and it's 20"

"yes ma'am." her voice still sunshine, but no rainbows.

"and give it to your Gran; I know for a fact that your Great-Gran will just give it right back to you."

"yes ma'am" her voice now partly cloudy.

As the pie bakes the girls tell me that a family friend saw them on the roof and called their uncle, thinking it was an intruder, only to find out that it was them.

it tickles me that everyone who hears this gives the same response:

"they're just like their mom"

I agree

which is why since they weren't hurt I look on it with a smile and a punishment that fits the crime...

which is why I marvel at the luck and the blessing that is being their mother...

which is why I cried when they left...

which is why I missed them when they were gone...

and why it feels so good now they are back.

12

...
...my road dog, my partner and all around oldest child Moe is 12 today, a certified tweenager with an opinion on everything and a laugh that makes you want to giggle...

a few things about the worlds greatest 12 year old...

-she love video games and wants to be a programmer

-she calls her cat ,midnite, her son...

-she draws a manga strip called "mr. Lolly" (yes, that is the correct spelling) about the misadventures of a delicious lollipop...

-she is a award-winning baritone player

-she is a rabid reader and an insane Harry Potter fan...

-can eat your weight in ice cream...I say yours because she's already eaten hers...

-can cook a three course meal, and very well, tyvm....

-can burp the alphabet

she's a light and a cheerleader, a free sprit and a girl who will make you proud even if she screws up...

she is a joy and I hope I get another 12 of the years that I 've had so far...

I Luv you baby...HBH