Thanks for all your sweet comments (and prayers!) for my upcoming testimony taping in Kokomo, Indiana! You bless me more than you know! Thank you! :)Hey Friends!
When did this happen?
When did my son Jake go from this....
to this....
(note the height difference in the recent picture! And I was wearing heels!)
It seems like I blinked and now he's graudating from high school.
What'a mom to do??!
Since Jake is the oldest of our 4 kids, this is my first time as a "senior mom". College applications, senior pictures, financial aid forms, senior class trip, last homecoming dance....oh my!
I'm trying to navigate the delicate balance of preparing Jake to "leave the nest", while enjoying every moment of his senior year (and not driving him crazy while I "mark every moment" with a bazillion photographs).
Trust me, it's not easy. At least for me anyway.
This summer I did learn a fun tip from Lisa Bevere. Lisa has her sons give her a kiss whenever they get home at night, especially on the weekends.
We've been giving the nightly "always give your mom a kiss" a try ~ and I love it! :)
Jake knows that no matter what time he gets home, he needs to find me and give me a kiss on the cheek.
I'll be waiting.
One night I was already in bed half asleep, so I couldn't see Jake. I said, "Boy Jake, you smell fruity". He said, "Well I am eating watermelon", as his hands were filled with watermelon chunks. Another time he smelled smoky (and I learned he'd been at a camp fire). It's amazing what the nose knows!
I also enjoy knowing that even if Jake has 3 of his football friends with him (which is often) ~ he needs to come give his mom a smooch.
The nightly kiss (even though he's 6 inches taller than me!) has really worked for me!
How about for you? Do you have any tips for this newbie senior mom?? I'd love to hear from you!
Thanks for stopping by *She Sparkles*! God's richest blessings to you!
P.S. Thanks Jill Bergeron for you fun senior pictures! Jake loves them ~ especially his hockey poses (with the flames of fire shooting off his stick!)
P.S.S. For more Works for Me Wednesday ideas, head over and visit Kristen at
We Are That Family. :)
4 comments:
My daughter is just a freshman in high school, but I absolutely love this idea!
I'm planning on stealing it for myself - hope you don't mind!
Ok, this made me cry! T-Rex is the age and size of Jake in your wedding pic, and I just can't bear to think of how fast those years are going to fly by! What a great young man Jake's growing into!
My oldest graduated from high school in 2009, and I clearly remember feeling overwhelmed with everything going on. I had taken a bit of a sabbatical from volunteer efforts in her junior year so that we could do college visits unencumbered. I went full steam ahead volunteering that senior year and wow, was I sorry! I had no idea how time consuming college prep would be FOR ME!!!
One thing that we did was plan to spend that last spring break doing something that would be very memorable and fun for her. As it turned out, even after saving for four years, we didn't have enough money for the whole family to do anything for more than a long weekend, BUT my husband suggested we take the money and just she and I do what we could with it. I found a sale and we went to Puerto Rico for five days - just she and I. It was amazing. She turned down opportunities to do things with her friends that may have been more exciting and I heard from other moms that she loved that special one-on-one time together and how they wished they had done something like that. We did the whole family in the summer with camping and canoeing.
My advice to you is to do whatever you can to free up your schedule over the winter. Do your taxes as early as possible. If you have someone do them for you, make an appointment early. You will need this info for the FASFA. Do it as early as you can. We were not good about doing things early, and then we'd be struggling with deadlines. Always made the deadlines, but let me tell you - with one of them - my husband's dad died and the next day we had to stop everything to fill out forms b/c it was the last day. We had put them off while he was sick, thinking he would get better. I know ... a horrible example, but it's true! Oh - and whatever shopping you will need to do: make your lists early and watch for sales. You can shop garage sales all summer if you know what he'll need. I think boys are easier - they are minimalists, usually. Have a few changes of clothes and basic toiletries and they're set, right? You're taking pictures already, but journal if you can. I was not much of a picture taker, but I did write about certain big events. I wish I had done more journaling.
Hope this helps!
Just saw this post. My oldest is a senior, also, this year. I can't believe how quickly the year is flying by. College visits. Exams. And soon dress shopping for prom (I bet).
The best thing I can say is to savor the memories. I can't imagine our home without her being here. We are very close and consider her a good friend, as well as my daughter.
Although, thank goodness, the colleges she's looking into aren't too far from home, life is not going to be the same. Better in some ways not so much in others. The one thing I M sure of is that the Lord will be going with her.
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