Emma Buckaroo

Emma went to her friend's birthday party this morning at Buckaroo Ranch. They played games and Emma even rode the pony, and then asked if she could have one for her birthday. Emma brought back her cowboy hat and I'm sure that will be a staple of wardrobe for a while now.

Dance Recital Pictures

Art Festival

Emma's school hosted an art festival and we had so much fun on Saturday. They had face painting which the girls took full advantage, a balloon artist where Emma got full battle gear and Lauren a heart flower bracelet. They had a disco room and the girls had fun dancing away. The girls also made birdhouses and various other crafts. They even ate nachos and rice krispy treats. It was a fun day!

Dance Rehearsal

We are down to the final moments for dance (yippee!). Saturday was full dress rehearsal, which meant getting the girls' hair done and make-up (gulp), as well as in their costumes. It was chaotic but the girls enjoyed themselves and were really very good for the almost 3 hours we had to be there (mind you, their routines were only about 30 seconds long, but spaced out enough that we couldn't leave and come back). Bill even has a dance in the recital!
Here are pictures from rehearsal.

Emma and I were worn out...obviously not Lauren though (or Bill for that matter!).

Mr. Clean, Mr. Clean

Rosa and crew came this morning and did a fantastic number on the house. I'm not embarrassed to say they found dust bunnies hiding in places I did not know existed. I can see my face in the hardwood floors and the girls rooms look so cute, I almost cried. They washed my bottom panel windows, in between my washer and dryer (I wouldn't even go there!) and I've not seen the silver without spots on the shower in I don't know how long. It's amazing what level of grime you put up with when you work full-time. I can't wait for them to come back! They are coming the day Grandma and Grandpa Clark come :-) Grandma Clark has been such an advocate (and a persistent buzz in Bill's ear) of us hiring help with the cleaning...she is going to be so proud of me! Here are the girls' rooms after the transformation. Rosa even stripped the beds and put fresh sheets on them - heaven!

Daddy/Daughter Dance Photo

We are the Biscuit Brothers!

We had the opportunity to see the Biscuit Brothers this weekend. They were giving a free concert at a local outdoor shopping center, so we couldn't pass up two of our favorite things - the Biscuit Bros. and something free :-)

We were there early, of course, so spent some time in the Apple store where I swear the girls can manage all the electronics better than me. Lauren was working the iPad and iTouch to play games and listen to music. Emma found the kids table and was playing a Dora game on the iMac. I had a tough time figuring out how to operate the trash can to throw away my coffee cup - ha ha.
Wandered our way back to the outdoor music stage to find Dusty, one of the brothers, setting up his guitar. He was excited to see the girls and jumped down to catch a picture with the girls. Here's a link back to our last fun encounter with the B Bros gang.

Project Planet

Lauren had her biggest homework project of the year this past weekend. She has been learning about planets at school, and the final assignment was to select a planet of her choice, check resources out of the library to write a report, then create some piece of artwork to accommodate the report. Lauren picked Pluto. I was there with her in the library when she selected the resource book. I forgot that Pluto had been demoted...it's not a real planet anymore. Well, part of the book report Lauren was tasked to write asked what she knew about Pluto. Thankfully she already knew Pluto was not a real planet anymore, that instead it was a dwarf planet. Whew - crisis averted. So, she wrote about what made Pluto special and not like the rest of the planets. It has a messy orbit - she really liked that. It means there is a bunch of junk in its path unlike the other planets. It also rotates opposite to all the other planets in our solar system. Lauren liked demonstrating this to me by spinning herself silly in the living room. She decided to create a diorama of Pluto, and thankfully we had the help of Lauren's friend Grace who corrected me that the background should be black, not blue as I had planned to direct Lauren to paint it. Where was I during planet week?? Crossing my fingers Lauren gets a check mark for her awesome diorama!

Mother's Day Activities

Emma had mother's day tea this week at her school, and since I had the opportunity to participate in daddy's picnic with Emma, I let Bill go to the mother's day activity with Emma. They had a great time and Emma showed off her work and also found a crafty alternative with her lunch napkin.Lauren's kindergarten class held a spa day for the moms. Lauren's table mate was by himself so we asked him to join in with us. This is what happens when you let two 6 year old kids loose on your face with your make-up bag. It was really fun and the kids had a blast. I think they did a pretty good job actually!