So I'm apparantly on a once a year blogging kick.  That's vague, I know.  I just write when it hits me and for some reason today it hit me.

I just shut the door behind a nice A/C repair gentleman who left me with an heavy estimate on the new unit we need to install.  That happened about two hours after I walked in the door from our first trip to the orthodontist for Maggie and Zoe.  (And lest you fear Tori felt left out, the dentist has already informed me that Sweet T will be spending lots of time in the orthodontist chair in the future).  Getting these girls' teeth straightened out is gonna set us back, well, about the amount of one and a half A/C units when it's all said and done.

So tonight's after dinner finances discussion is going to be just a joy.  It's not a choice, really.  Saint Augustine Augusts are brutal...more brutal than a mouthful of crooked canines.  A/C comes first, then the grillz for the girls.

As I was sitting at the orthodontist's office I was struck by the fact that I was in the ORTHODONTIST'S OFFICE.  When did my kids get old enough for this...especially Maggie who is headed for braces as quickly as she is headed for middle school?  This past Sunday at church was "move up day" and for those of you who did not grow up being hauled to church every time the doors were opened, "move up day" is a big deal.  It's the day you get to go from whatever measly little grade you were in to the NEXT grade.  The big deal this year, though, is that Maggie is going into middle school.  Our church, Mandarin Presbyterian, does things a little differently, which is one of the reasons I love that place.  Sunday morning Maggie and her friends went to their normal class and then were "kidnapped" by our middle school staff couple and taken away to become acclimated with all things Hang Ten (our middle school program's name).  As I handed her the obligatory McDonald's money I realized that this was our defining moment.  She had officially become a middle schooler.  I know she doesn't start school for another week, but I hope and pray that outings like these will define her middle school years much more than the stuff she learns at school, the drama that ensues between friends, the boys who want to "date her" one day and move on the next.  All these things will happen, I know, but I sure am grateful for some older, wiser, more fun folks than me to give her another soft place to land when life gives her a super-sized beat down.

And now, for your viewing pleasure, here I am in all my middle school glory:

I think I'm saying, "Taa-daaa!  I am 12 but I look like a mom already.  Thanks hot rollers, button down short sleeved shirt and big glasses on my head!"