¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

Hello Friends!

May Day was my birthday.  How did you celebrate?  We celebrated by having a mis-communication which ended up in us going to Claim Jumpers for dinner.  PERFECT!  I took the day off of work and chores!  EVEN MORE PERFECT!  I tried to take a nap in the hammock in the afternoon, but GG needed a snack, to ask a question, another snack, and a fudgesicle, and another question every time I sat down.  ALMOST PERFECT!

Gretchen surprised us all with this lovely drawing.  At first I was all, "Oh, mmhmmm, nice sweetie.  That's a nice guy."

 But then she said, "No, momma, it's the tomato from Veggie tales!"  And then I was all "!!!!!My baby's a GENIUS!!!!!!!!"

So Tuesday night we went with the Relief Society to the Ronald McDonald house in town to do some cleaning and make dinner.  When the Disney Store in town closed (sniff!!!) they gave all their props to the Ronald McDonald house to decorate the sibling play room.  The girls were super impressed!  And in the backyard there was a playhouse shaped as a gigantic gumball machine!  WOW!  The girls kept asking, "Can WE go there some time?"
 "Sure, we can go help there again."
"No, can we STAY THERE!"
"Honey, it's only for kids who have a brother or sister in the hospital!"
 "Well, maybe one day can one of US be in the hospital and we can play?"
SIGH.

Any good karma we may have had from that experience was quickly cleared out when I ran over a dove on the way home.  Yes, I killed a dove.  A DOVE.  It was sitting there, hangin' out on the street.  Of course birds always fly away when you get close, right?  It's dangerous to swerve when you're driving down a busy street at 40 mph, they always move, right?  RIGHT?  No.  Dove.  Thud.  Cloud of feathers behind our car.  No more dove.  And Gretchen crying, "Why did you hit that bird, momma?  Why did you have to KILL IT????"

 Ella had Crazy Hair Day at school this week.  Put in your bets now to guess how long her hair stayed this way.

 (Her scalp is still red, and no it's NOT a sunburn.  I'm not sure how we're going to get it off!)

It was also her school's EVENING OF THE ARTS this week!  Her awesome music and art teachers have been working so hard to put this together.  Months of preparation.  The 3rd and 4th grade students were required by mandatory attendance to sing and play the recorder.  I asked Ella if she was worried about performing in front of everyone.  She said, "No, not really."
I said, "Do you feel like you know it pretty well then?"
"No, I only know about the first 10 notes, then I just pretend for the rest of the song."
"Honey!!!  Are you kidding me?  Do you want me to help you practice?"  (A completely impractical offer as we were leaving for the EVENING OF THE ARTS in about 15 minutes)
"Nah, I'm good."
"Why didn't you bring home the music, I could have helped you!"  (Turns out she did.  Multiple times.  I found 2 copies of "An Olde English Tune" when I was cleaning up papers yesterday.  FAIL.  Ah well....)

Her friend C, on the other hand, had a SOLO.  (Though her moms said the way you get the recorder solo at THE EVENING OF THE ARTS is you show up for the solo tryouts.  Then only one other kid shows up.  So you both get a solo.)

 Girl Scouts had the COOLEST OUTING this Friday.  We had a half day at school, so afterwards we met for a quick potluck Cinco de Mayo picnic at the park, then went TO THE INDOOR ARCHERY RANGE!!!!  Gretchen was really excited about it, but she was NOT really excited to have her hair pulled back.  She likes her hair around her face.  And she's COOL, not CUTE, BTW...  Please don't call her cute. For all our sakes.

 Ella was told by a leader she had to keep her uniform on, but she snuck some purple shorts on in the car.  Because she's a rebel, Dottie.

 Check out that determination!!!

 The kind people at Wasting Arrows Indoor Archery Range set up an alternative bullseye once they realized that all the arrows were indeed being wasted...

And, finally, THANK YOU AUNTIE AMBER!!!  She threw a lovely BBQ last night to celebrate my birthday.  We were super excited about not having to cook (ok, maybe that was just me), the homemade cake with cool-whip frosting (it's calling my name right nooooooow!!!) and the CABLE!!!  Man, I could watch HGTV for hours.  As we did.  Last night.  Do you know what this house needs?  A walk in craft closet.  And a murphey bed.  And a place for my fish-tanking.

Have a great week!!!!!!