The Spotlight Is On Her {Don't Forget To Read All The Way To The Bottom. I Promise...You Won't Be Disappointed!!}

{DISCLAIMER: Sorry this pic is a lil on the blurry side. I'm always in a hurry to snap a shot, and I had just run over and closed the blinds since it was a super sunny day out and this girlie was on the couch watching Diary Of A Wimpy Kid 2 due to Snot Fest 2011 #3 (aka: seasonal allergies) making her want to stay inside. Otherwise known as: "Mom..............not ANOTHER picture!"}

This girl of ours sure is keeping us busy these days. We have 9 more days of school. Yahoo!! And to prepare for our summer reading fun, I took her down to our storage area in the basement and opened up the 1,000 plastic bins that hold my old books and let her pick through them. Even though she will be 10 in just a few short weeks, {YIKES....where does the time go??}, she is ready for them. Her reading score is equal to a high school senior, y'all. UNBELIEVABLE.....

She picked out quite an eclectic mix....a lil Ernest Hemingway, some V.C. Andrews, a smattering of teeny-bopper romance novels, some Babysitters' Club and a few of the classics. Must I tell you that her taste in reading material is all over the place and sometimes we have to be careful that what she picks isn't too "adult" for her in reading level.

She has been recognized as an Amazing Achiever for the second time this school year and we get to join the festivities up at the school on Tuesday. It's always an honor to be recognized in front of the entire school for an award that is chosen by the teacher. With her fave teacher now gone back to the states, we are just holding on for dear life and trying to make it through the next 9 days.

In other Neeley-related news, she is leaving soon for a week long girl Scout camp up in Northern Germany. Yikes! She'll go away from us for a week in the nowhere lands of this country. Double yikes! It's a Girl Scout run camp and her week has an art theme so they'll do all things crafty and messy and good for the soul. I have no doubt that she will have a blast!

And..........................last but not least.........................Neeley has been awarded a scholarship by the Air, Space & Missile Defense Association to attend Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama, this summer. Yahoo!!! This selection was based on her grades, a handwritten essay {Hers was cute y'all! I'll have to post it soon too.}, and the fact that her daddy works in Space....well, not up in space. ;) We are soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo proud of that girl!!! She is soooooooooooo excited! But I can't say this mommy isn't just a wee bit nervous. Being that we live in Germany, I have to put my baby on a plane ALL BY HERSELF in the next month or so and try my best to coach her on the ins and outs of the airports she will be in and hope and pray to the Good Lord above that she makes it to that airport in Huntsville. Any experiences with flights like these? PLEASE comment and let me know. I can't breathe, though I am trying awfully hard to be excited for her. ;) Can you believe it? SPACE CAMP!!! Wow!!