Has it really been that long? Yikes. I tried to do a quick little wrap-up of our last few weeks, and realized that is pretty much impossible. So here is the abridged version, mostly in photos because even though we have been taking it easy this week, I still need to prepare for my nieces and nephew who all arrive tomorrow!

So…speed round, here we go!

Emma’s artwork was chosen for a little art show. She was adorable all dressing up for the showing. Hers is the very cool Brontosaurus dino one there…

From dinosaurs to lions! Both of the girls were in the Spring Musical at church. Em was a tormenting lion with lines (I’ll post the video soon, promise!) and Ad was a lion cub. Could she be any cuter?

I didn’t get many shots of Em, especially with her hood on. I was backstage getting the cubs hooded and ready for their entrance. This shot was after the bows were taken and while they were getting their choir awards. She looked as exhausted as I felt.

And then it was time for school to end. Proud preschool graduates, look out kindergarten!

We had a little picnic in the Secret Garden to celebrate with all of our preschool friends…

And said goodbye to those who wouldn’t be going to our kindergarten.

And then it was time for the first graders to cross over into the world of SECOND grade. I am still in denial that I have a second grader. How is that possible??

And we celebrated with a serious farewell-to-first-grade Carnival – complete with popcorn machine, cotton candy, caricature artist, games, face painting and of course, popsicles!

On to the next day. And another celebration! Our Daisies bridged over and became Brownies! All sixteen of them crossed the bridge, looked into the pond and then we had a big party!

But our celebrating didn’t end there. On Monday we traveled to the stables and the girls got to try their hands at horseback riding. This was their end-of-year activity and celebration for selling so many cookies! All of them groomed and rode the horses and Emma asked the minute she got down, “Can I please take horseback riding lessons??”

Through it all, Ad tried ever so patiently to be a good sport. And she was, mostly.

And she also found her swimming mojo again this week. I had to pry both girls out of the pool after five hours of swimming yesterday. Yeah! Summer is here.

And not a minute too soon. Believe it.

Helllooo there! You been wondering where the heck we have all been? Besides the occasional Crafty Tuesday or Dipy Thursday we’ve been a little absent, but definitely not idle. So what has been happening?

-We’ve been entertaining.
Nana and Papa stopped in for a little weekend visit. It was great to have them here and Papa had a whole new (upright) view of LA, since last time he was dreadfully ill the entire time. I think he may have seen an entire part of our house, that he had completely missed, too. Plus, we got to take Nana to the aquarium and Papa to the Jay Leno show, so it was a packed and fun weekend.

-I’ve been finding missing persons.
When your parents tell you “if we are not back from our walk in 30 minutes come looking for us,”  just hand them your phone with the GPS. Trust me.

About 45 minutes after Nana and Papa left, I got my shoes on. After about five minutes of driving the route they were supposed to be on, I get a phone call. “We are sitting on the curb…” about 12 blocks from where they were supposed to be. Now granted in giving them directions I may or may not have forgotten to mention the crazy street where the name changes. I only wish I had my real camera, I really don’t think the iPhone truly captured the moment.

-I’ve been celebrating.
Yeah, another one of those pesky birthdays popped up this week. I didn’t even need to “milk it” though. My sweet girls and Jam brought me Starbucks and breakfast and showered me with awesome gifts and love. Emma climbed in bed with me and said, “Happy Birthday, Mama. I’m so glad you had me.” Huh. Okay…

Anyhow, I got tons of good wishes, phone calls, a terrific lunch and I was even serenaded (complete with ice cream cake!) by Em’s entire first grade class. It was a very good birthday. Thank you all for thinking of me.

-I’ve been certified.
Or made certifiable, maybe? My friend Jamie and I took the C.E.R.T. (Community Emergency Response Team) training through our fire department. It was three nights last week and three nights this week. I may drive J. crazy with all of the stuff we need to do to make our house all emergency-proof, but at least I feel prepared in case some sort of emergency does happen.

-We’ve been appreciating.
This week we’ve been appreciating all of Em’s teachers and staff, and next week it is Addie’s school. So we’ve been making all kinds of signs, notes, picking flowers, baking goods, etc. I still maintain that teachers have one of the hardest jobs, ever. Makes my job look like a piece of cake most days. So thank you to teachers everywhere.

-We’ve been field-tripping.
Finally Addie got a field trip that Emma didn’t get to go on. And Mommy got to go with her. She is always asking “When are you going to come help in my class, Mama? When do I get to go to a field trip? When can you stay at school with me?” So we got to go see a Max & Ruby theater show this week with her class. She thought it was all very cool.

Is it any wonder that we have all been just falling into (or near) the bed each night?

This weekend, we have almost nothing on the docket and I have been promised two days of a bit of pampering. The weekend has never looked so good. Hope yours is terrific as well!

Yeah, I’m late and behind this week, but we are still here, still kickin’. J. has been traveling this week so besides missing him, we decided to tackle a few projects that have been driving me a little crazy. I have that spring cleaning bug again and around here one thing leads to another.

I finished up Em’s room last week, finally hanging stuff on her wall, fitting her new desk in, painting a new desk chair and it looks so good in her room. And then I walked into Addie’s room and that bookshelf that I have hated since we moved in was calling me, taunting me. And we hadn’t painted that wall when we did the big repaint a month or so ago – I’m not sure why, but the people before had left the wall white, so we did too.

So I get the brilliant idea that the bookshelf needs to be painted white. But as soon as the bookshelf is white, the wall looks very dingy. So I get the doubly brilliant idea that I’m going to not only paint the wall, but I’ll paint each shelf a different color. But, as soon as the bookshelf and walls are painted, the doors look dirty and dingy. So, yep…they get some new paint, too.

And now, every other room I walk into, I see something that needs some attention. Please someone plan an intervention for me. Come pry the paintbrush from my cramped hand.

But for now, Addie’s room is satisfactory…

I didn’t take any before pics, but trust me…it looks WAY better. And Addie sat down on her bed when I was organizing all the stuff on the shelves and she just sighed and said, “Oh Mama, my room looks so pretty, doesn’t it? I love it!” That made the three days of sore painting arms totally worth it all.

And to add to my achievements for the week – I finally hung the photos that have been sitting in our dining room for two, three months, awhile now. I think I’ve been putting it off for so long because I didn’t want to commit, I wasn’t quite sure how to do the photos going up the stairway.

So I put paper up and mapped them out before I pounded a bunch of nails into the wall…

…and what do you know? It worked! I’m thrilled to have this project crossed off my list once and for all.

So, that has pretty much been our week around here, besides – you know – the normal dose of chaos.

On the docket for the weekend we have a trip to the beach bright and early tomorrow morning. Our Daisy troop is doing a beach clean-up. And on Sunday, our little Miss Addie is starring in a movie for an online project for Disney. Oh, you better believe there will be updates on both of those coming soon.

Hope your weekend is restful and fun!

It’s been a bit of a long week. I, for one, am very happy that Friday is finally here.

Meanwhile, our crazy weather has my poor children confused.

If I just wear my boots and a little sweater over my sundress that should be ok, right?

And this getup is perfectly acceptable for a donut run with Daddy on the weekends, right?

My hat will keep my toes warm…

(Yep, she went out this way. Fashion, smashion.)

But let’s take a closer look at that cutie hat, shall we?

I got each of the girls one of these hats at the Silent Auction for Em’s school last weekend. I love them. A mom at our school makes those and I’ve wanted to get one for them for awhile now. Although they kinda make the girls look all hip and OLD.

Speaking of looking so much older, I’ve been trying to braid Em’s hair all the time for school. I used to think it made her look a little more like my little girl.

I don’t know, though. I’m not sure it is working so well any more.

Although, it could just be that I only see the top of her head lately because her nose is constantly in a book.

Yes, I did buy her a dictionary for her birthday. I was so tired of, “Mama, How do you spell…?” I was totally unprepared however with how much she would love the dictionary. She has carried it back and forth to school all week. The first word she looked up in it was – dismissal. For her journal entry. My sweet, little nerd.

Ad’s friend EJ has been staying with us this week, which has led to a very interesting shift in the house dynamics. EJ has two younger, wilder brothers. She is used to being around boys. And being the boss. Our Addie is used to being bossed around, but I think she is kinda not so enamored with her BFF right now. And she is clearly not thrilled that EJ and Emma Grace have been inseparable, as well. EJ thinks Emma Grace molded, colored and hung the moon.

So Addie has become even more of a Mommy’s shadow.

“You need me to help, Mama? I can do it for you!”

It hasn’t hurt Em and Ad’s relationship, though. Never fear, they are still “tight.”

While we are on the subject of “helping each other out,” I alluded a few weeks ago to J. and I joining a co-ed, adult soccer league. I was talked into it because they needed more girls, so I said yes. And then I talked J. into doing it with me, because it “will be something fun for us to do together.” Right? Yes. Remember neither of us have every actually played soccer.

Hmmm…well, the first week was r-o-u-g-h. Ouch. It is way harder than it looks. And I am in decent shape, but…OUCH! And J. was convinced that he was only on the field for comic relief. But last week? It was so much better. And we kinda looked like we knew what we were doing. And J. really looked good. So now we are not dreading our soccer Sunday afternoons, and it really is “something fun for us to do together.”

So we are running off to our weekend fun. Hope you are too…

Hey, guess who?

Yeah, it is time to check in for our weekly wrap-up again, but I’m feeling all zen and on-vacation and not much feeling like breaking that spell right now. I mean this was our view from our room today…

And while on the beach…

See what I mean?

So just in case you are dying to know what has been happening…

We are on a lovely spring break this week. We took a trip up the coast to a city on the ocean we’ve never been to. We are enjoying doing whatever we feel like, whenever we feel like it (which for the girls includes spending a crazy amount of time in an outdoor pool -I don’t care that it is heated, and it is 70 degrees…it is too cold for swimming!) J. is planning on picking up his birthday present on Saturday (the iPad he has been not so patiently waiting months for), and then we will trek home to spend Easter there.

That pretty much sums it up. Now, back to the regularly scheduled lounging…