wanna rent a 12 year old?????

I really love my daughter and remember my own attitude at 12, but come on! Yikes. AND I even "gave up" my one day of sleeping in to take her for high school placement testing -- any thanks???? Of course not. Sigh.

In other news, this week passed by QUICKLY. Back to school, back to activities, celebrating Abby's birthday early (my baby turns 10 Monday!). Back to school was relatively non-eventful, aside from the fact that it's COLD here (when it goes below freezing here it's COLD -- this week we've dipped below 20). Homework hasn't heated up too much for Maggie (yet), but I'm sure that will change. We also managed to run a few errands, including the purchase of yet another pair of pointe shoes.

As for me, no bruising from the Hepatitis shot this time around. Nice to get back to Bible Study on Wednesday, nice to get back to yoga yesterday.

And we did have a nice celebration for Abby last night. Unlike a lot of people, the actual "day" of the birthday/anniversary/holiday isn't particularly important if you recognize it somewhere around the time. Since Tom left for Holland today, we celebrated last night. Made a brownie "cake" with chocolate frosting, and she opened her presents (well, one wasn't wrapped, one was in the shipping box, and the other was wrapped!). Thrilled with a new game for the Wii Tom got this week, enjoying (right now!) the iPod, and moved into the new purse. Not a "lot" of gifts, but no complaints! Mom is going to take her and Maggie b-day shopping on MLK day while she's here as well.

Speaking of the Wii -- I'm OK at bowling but seem to suck at table tennis (haven't tried anything else.....). Wii Fit is on order, we'll see how that one stacks up with my non-coordinated body! It is fun, of course!

Today Maggie had her placement testing. Dropped her off at 8 and picked her up at 11:30. She said the tests were "medium" on the difficulty scale. Some were easy, some were more difficult. No surprises there. She has her interview Tuesday. Public school was so much easier!

Abby's getting a new violin teacher -- her teacher has over an hour commute each week and wants to cut back her hours. The new teacher is apparently another young lady. Unfortunately, I won't be with Abby when she meets here, but mom will be.

As for me, I continue to get ready for my trip. Passport has been returned with visa attached, only a couple more purchases necessary, and various maps and agendas prepared for mom.......

Have a great week!