If I were to ask you to describe me in 1 word, what would it be?

Friend?

Happy?

Funny?

Or would it be more real, like needy, selfish or sucker?


Right now, I'd say my 1 word for me is lost.


These past few weeks of my life are kind of a blur, kind of a mess (a lot of a mess) & something I never saw coming. (add naive)


My daughter turned 18 almost 3 weeks ago.  Rules were set, expectations were expressed & they were completely disregarded.  I was told it was too little too late.  Too little too late to set hard & fast rules that one was expected to follow when all along, they've been given too much slack.


My daughter, a high school student, decided to move out of my house & move in with her dad the weekend she turned 18.


My daughter.  The one who made me a mom.

My daughter.  The one I carried inside of me & nurtured for 9 months.

My daughter.  The one I have raised for 18 years.

My daughter.  The one I was supposed to do fun Senior things with.

My daughter.  The one I gave everything to & rarely said no to.

My daughter.  The one I clearly gave too much to.

My daughter.  The one I thought I was doing alright by.

My daughter.  The one I made mistakes with.

My daughter.  The one who chose to leave all on her own.

My daughter.  The one I couldn't make stay.


I don't know how people truly view this situation or me in general.  I'd like to think my friends & family understand what happened, and some do.  Others, I know exactly what you think of me.  I realize this wasn't a one way street.  I know I'm at fault for what happened, just as much as she is, if not more.

Some will say I shouldn't be sharing this online at all.  Some will wonder why I'm opening up here but not elsewhere.  This is my space.  This is where I can talk and not be judged (to my face).  Maybe that makes me pathetic...but I don't really care.

So, this is what happened.  This is my new normal...for now.

My middle baby officially turned 9 yesterday!  When I sit back and think about each of my kids, they are all really one of a kind.  Izzy's my sensitive one.  My old soul.  She truly cares about you, she is genuinely excited for you when something good happens & she's careful with her words so as to not hurt your feelings.


Izzy is just the best.  That's all there is to say.


This past Saturday, we had her birthday party & it was quite the shindig!  Her theme this year was "Izzy's Dive-In Theater!"  What's better than swimming?  Watching a movie while swimming!


Bo was able to borrow a projector from work, so that high ticket item was free to rent.  Score!  We made the screen with just a white paper drop cloth & attached it to the legs of our pop up tent.  Bo attached another drop cloth on the 2 back legs of the tent too in hopes to keep the sun off the screen more, but to no avail.  The sun goes down at its own pace.  ;-)


We had a concession stand and filled it with popcorn, beef jerkey, pickles & candy!  There was actually even more candy than what's pictured because I had to wait on the 2 trays of chocolate so it wouldn't melt!  The kids filled their bags to watch the movie...and kept filling & filling!  This also doubled as their goody bags to take home, which they filled again before leaving. (Izzy requested no cookies this year!)  For dinner, Izzy wanted Chick-fil-A nuggets & nachos!  With close to 50 people, and a large & medium CFA tray later...we didn't have much left over!


This was Izzy's vision for her cake...a cookie cake with a pool scene on it!


After cake, we all went inside to open gifts.  This is basically how Izzy looked during every present the opened!  One thing we like to do is to have the person who gave the gift sit next to Izzy while she opens their present.  It makes it all less confusing as to who gave what, I can get a nice pic of them together & it makes for a nice Thank You card!


We started the movie after presents, which was around 6:30pm.  It was still too bright to see the screen really well, but by 7:15/:30 you could see the movie perfectly!


All in all, the kids had lots of fun!  Although some kids watched the movie laying in the grass in front of the screen, the rest thought it was really cool to be able to watch the movie from inside the pool!

Words people!  I was at a loss for them when I got the e-mail last week saying I was chosen to be part of the 2015-2016 Chick-fil-A Mom Panel!  (Truth be told, I yelled, "YES" & did a fist pump in the air when I saw the e-mail.) :-)


There are quite a few of us from all over the country & I've been having a lot of fun checking out all their blogs & social media pages.  While I don't know exactly what this opportunity entails yet, I'm hoping I'll get some first hand scoop for yall, let yall know about upcoming events, promotions, etc. (all with permission, of course!) :-)


So, while we wait for that, let's all Eat Mor Chikin 'mkay!


Thanks to Kari, another Chick-fil-A Panel mom for allowing us to use her graphic above.