We made it!

The kids had final exams this week and finished up yesterday. I spent the majority of the week double checking the exam schedule to make sure the kids were at school at the right times.  There was only one day out of the four when they were both there together for both exams so that meant I was mildly panicked the rest of the time that one was going to be late or that I was going to forget to pick Sarah up when her schedule didn't match Peter's.

Thankfully they both got to where they needed to be when they needed to be there!  Now I'm just praying that they did well on their exams.  It's one thing when your kid is in 4th grade and has a test that they may or may not do well on.  It's another thing when your kid is going to be applying to colleges soon and it feels like every point on every test matters because someone is actually going to be looking at their GPA.  (Or maybe it's just me and  none of it really matters.)

Needless to say, I've been praying extra hard for my kids during this last month of school and have been asking for the intercession of St. Joseph of Cupertino.

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In news that's only exciting to the parent of said child, Peter received the 10th grade religion award at awards day a couple of weeks ago. Parents don't go to this awards day so no pictures.

* Sarah's 15th birthday was Tuesday but she celebrated with friends on Saturday.  She invited 15 of her besties (yes, you can have 15 besties) from school to join her for lunch and  10 of them were able to come.  They had lunch, gave her presents and posed for pictures.  The picture posing is apparently the most important part.  (Dan and I sat in the bar, ate lunch and enjoyed a day-date while the girls did their thing.)

Before we left for this lunch I made Sarah pose for a picture on the front porch.  But then I made Dan take one of both of us which will be posted here for posterity:

Several people commented after I posted this picture to social media that I looked young.  So I thought I would give you some tips and tricks to looking young in photos.

1. Have your husband get at least 6-8 feet away from you to take the picture. The further he gets, the younger you look.
2. Put your hand on your hip to make your arm look thinner.
3. Turn one knee out and hold your foot jsut so to make your legs look smaller.
4. Purchase giant glasses (that are actually probably too large for the size of your face but you've dropped so much money on them that you have to wear them until next year when your insurance kicks in again) and wear them to hide all of your around-the-eye wrinkles.
5. Suck in your stomach.
6. Smile.
7. Apply a filter to make your legs look cellulite free.
8. Stand beside the cutest 15-year-old you can find to distract from yourself.

And voila - a good picture that you can post on social media and make people think you are cheating time! 

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One month ago , I mentioned feeling and looking old - especially with my old lady crepe-y skin.  A kind reader name Suz suggested I start using this lotion which she swears by.

So, I hopped right onto Amazon and it was here in two days and I've been using it ever since.  In fact, I just ordered a second bottle.  It has almost virtually erased the crepe skin on the back of my calves and is starting to work it's magic on the leathery looking skin on the top of my thighs. That's going to take awhile though thanks to all the years in the sun and tanning beds. Thanks for the rec, Suz!

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This weekend, we are celebrating Sarah's birthday with family.  Dan's sister will be in from D.C. tomorrow morning and we will have lunch with my side of the family, have cake, and open presents.

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Tonight we will be celebrating the end of the school year with our traditional dinner at the Japanese steak house.

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Soon I need to go pick up Sarah from a sleepover (in Greensboro about 45 minutes away so that's going to eat up a good chunk of my morning. Seriously the only problem with our Catholic high school is that most of Sarah's friends are at least 30 minutes from here or more!)

Then I will be doing some cooking prep, some cleaning, some laundry, and some errands because moms never truly get a summer break. I'm not complaining though.  I'm just going to try to enjoy my kids while they are still here because as Dan somberly stated last night, "Peter's halfway through with high school.  He'll be gone in two years."

...sigh...