If you had to elect the time when your ego took the biggest blow, when would it be??

If you had to recall a time in your life when your self-esteem was at its highest, when would you say it was??

And I can't resist asking this one...What are you most excited about in going to high school this year???

Here's some more questions for you guys to ponder...

If you had to name the one thing you care about most in life (other than another human being), what would it be??

If you were to describe the moment of your life when you felt the proudest of yourself, what would you say??

If you were to recall the moment of your life when you felt the proudest of someone else, when would it be??

What's the hardest part about being a teenager??  And what's the one thing, that if you could absolutely guarantee it, that you'd want your parents to understand about you??? 

And Emily, you can answer as honestly as you want...

Okay ladies...Emily says she's even going to answer this one...but first, a note to Jess...I think that's a really great example of how Im'ing can be a really good thing.  Sometimes we can write out things that we can't express on the phone, in person, whatever...and it seems like people are especially authentic at those times.  I'd encourage you to keep up those conversations, even though chatting DOES mean you need to protect yourself from the people you don't know.  Best to keep those intense, heart to heart conversations to those people that you personally know away from the cyber world too.  I liked your answer!  So here's the next question...

If you were to identify where the majority of your fears in life come from, what would you say??

Allie is so good about answering my questions, unlike some 14 year old I'm RELATED to (hint, hint--EMILY) that I feel compelled to come up with some good ones for her.  I'm guessing Jess will take a whack at them when she gets home from camp.  SO...here's another for you...

If you were to name a person who has given you true emotional strength, who would it be??

So I get that it's been a while.  We've had an interesting summer and it's been a bit distracting. Emily's far better about updating amidst the saga of it all than I've been.  Let's see, first I get diagnosed with an eye disease that can eventually lead to blindness, which sucks really bad and there's not a lot for me to do about it so that's kind of a bummer.  Then Emily, not to be outdone by her mother health crisis wise, is apparently pre-diabetic, which also sucks because she's having to work so hard at not consuming sugar.  Eric is reasonably healthy at least, has this voice scrambler that he LOVES, enjoys driving Emily batty with it but so far they haven't killed one another, which is always a plus!!!

So Jess suggested it was about time for another question.  Given that we're going to the Green Day concert, and I'm thinking, "How in the heck do I keep Eric from singing those lyrics at school??" my question is about language, lyrics and what feels right.  Having been in the halls at Northwood, I get that language is pretty much out of control there, girls can be so danged nasty!!!  It wasn't until I was in college that mine started taking a more colorful tone...

But what do you think about language, do you feel like it's over the top, do you think bands add to that with their lyrics???  Do you think that reserved for just every now and then, that some words just say what you're needing to say???  Or are words just reflexive now???  Like when you drop something.

How do you decide what works and what doesn't??? 

Let's hear it ladies!!!

For those of you who are my daughter's peers here, what does the word "feminist" mean to you???  Do you think of yourself as one?  Does it imply anything at all and what does it mean to be a young man in this day and time??

I've lately come to realize that women older than me [I'm 38] often have a different view of that word than I do.  And I'm curious as to what it means to YOUR generation.

So lest you think that Emily is the only challenging child in the Weber household, let me share with you the latest Eric news.  Apparently, we've deduced, in the half mile walk from Ridgewood to our home, something mysteriously happens to ANYTHING that the school gives him for us to read.  I think there's some kind of science project in the making here, some window into another universe that violently yet discreetly opens his backpack and sucks out all important documents.  And thus, it's the week before school gets out, a volunteer luncheon, a field day, a third grade graduation and a whole lot of other events and I'm getting bits and pieces of them from other parents. 

So, for any of you who are savvy enough to find The National Inquirer's phone number and tip them off to the strange Candlewood portal to another dimension, Eric would be happy to pose for the pictures with the aliens that steal his papers!!!

TTFN!! 

Okay, so I have a question???  A question I want KIDS to answer because I genuinely DO want to know what you think.  Is your life made better by having your mom (or dad) at home with you most of the time in the afternoons, summers, etc.??  How does it make you feel that they are at home or how does it make you feel that they aren't??

Absolutely NO judgments of ANY of your parents...we make our choices about what we do with our lives based on LOTS of reasons...often times financial ones HAVE to take the most important role.  But I want to know what kids think.  And girls, what do YOU envision for your lives???

So Emily thinks I'm like TOTALLY RETARDED or something, standing over me telling me where and when to click.  I mean who's the freaking mom here?!?!?!  School's out for me...YIPPY!!  I'm trying to figure how in the heck to manage a full load next year along with Emily and Eric and all that they're doing.  Boarding school....now there's an idea!!!  And Emily's over hear yelling, "Oh boy, can I go to boarding school???"  Silly child, little does she know of our fiendish plot to turn her into the house slave...

Em's bummed tonight because of Battle of the Books, Eric's zoned out watching Lord of the Rings and Allie popped down to show us her very cool hair, compliments of Carrie at Impressions. 

Well, that's all that's happening here today.  And so there Emily!!!  Ha Ha...Mom can post on a web journal and the world didn't come to an end.  Wonders never cease, do they babe???