And the Award Goes to

I received a covert message from the school that Sissy would be honored at their end-of-school awards ceremony and to keep my big, fat mouth shut about it.

Rude. 

A few days later, away we went to the ceremony for Sissy's big event. I didn't know what award she would be receiving, but as the ceremony went on and on, Sissy's name wasn't being called for anything. 

I was getting nervous. Am I being punked?!

I discovered that I hate watching other people's dumb kids receive their dumb awards while I have to wait.

I hate waiting. 

And then...

Sissy was called!

She received 3 awards: All A's for the year, Social Studies Outstanding Student, and she was voted Most Creative by her peers. Pretty good stuff.

We celebrated by getting fancy sno cones after dinner. Sissy's was enormous and full of chocolate.

It was perfect. 

Congrats to my girl!

Spring Concert

Sissy had her last band concert of 7th grade. (Insert sad face here.)

We arrived early since the winter concert was PACKED, only to find plenty of open seats and extra time on our hands to entertain Baby in the auditorium.

You try to do something responsible...

The concert was lovely and it was nice to see and hear that Sissy does in fact play the trombone. She never plays her instrument at home and I was beginning to think that she just carries around her trombone case instead of a purse. 

We have yet to snap a quality photo at her concerts, but here's the back of her head as she walked onstage. How exciting!

The band played 3 songs: 

Blue Sky Horizon by Randall Standridge

As Twilight Falls by Robert Sheldon

Propulsion by Adrian B. Sims

They did a nice job and we enjoyed the concert immensely. Even Baby was into it and clapped feverishly at the conclusion of each piece.

I can't believe she will be an 8th grader at her next concert. I will now retire to my chambers and sob.

Hooray for Sissy!

MOM!

It was Mother's Day and I was excited for my annual Mother's Day chicken pot pie. I went ahead and purchased it myself from good ol' Sam's Club because I wasn't sure if Mykey knew that my day was fast approaching. 

Turns out he didn't.

But thankfully Walmart is open 24 hours so he could get me this bounty. 

Someone with tiny hands was eager to bust open those peach rings. Someone with sausage fingers was equally eager so it worked out for everyone.

If you're feeling uninspired and curious about what kind of Mother's Day card AI will generate for you, this is it:

The robot machine captured my beautifully stunning hair and petite waist perfectly. It's like looking in a mirror. 

Luckily Mykey wrote me a sincere note on the back. Good call on his part. He also lovingly created this sign for my desk. 

Notice anything weird? It ain't 2027 folks.

Poor Mykey and his inability to track time. We had a good chuckle and now it's displayed proudly on my desk regardless. 

We had a lazy day eating all my treats and all my chicken pot pie. 

And we also hung around on the porch drinking soda. It was bliss. 

I love being a mom. And most days I don't even mind the housework and all the other nonsense that accompanies being the mom. 

Most days. 

Happy Mother's Day to me!

Finger Nubs

We finally did it. We finished our porch. I want to point out that I personally attached all 95 balusters with my own 10 sausage fingers. Well...Mykey had to rescue me on one of them when I stripped the screw. Whoops. Mykey then assembled everything else because he is amazing that way. He was especially proud of his decision to add molding to the bottom of the posts. 

Looks purty.

When we started stripping the paint from the posts I had deep regret. Hours and hours of work trying to scrub off the 452 layers of paint. The paint stripper barely touched it. After calling my handy-woman sissy in despair, she gave me sage advice and I ended up using a combination of stripper, acetone, mineral spirits, and steel wool. Not all together, of course. I didn't want to asphyxiate myself with toxic fumes. I would toil away on the paint and then Mykey would use the sander once enough layers of paint were gone.

The worst were the rounded edges and crevices. They nearly broke my spirit. 

But we made it and boy am I happy with the outcome. I can sit on the porch in my classy camp chair and stare at our hard work. Look at our beautiful porch!

How divine.

24 for Reals

My niece turned 24 a couple of days after Mykey fossilized. She spent the day doing birthday things with her family. After she gorged on sushi for dinner, she shuffled over to my house for dessert. 

I made her a chocolate cake. In case you think I was having a stroke when I haphazardly put the candles on top - don't. Baby arranged them. (She might have been having a stroke.) 

My niece stripped her baby down to his birthday-cake-eating-outfit (it's the same thing Mykey wore), we sang the birthday ditty, and I gave her a most valuable and thoughtful gift. 

A Sam's Club size treasure of Froot by the Foot. Naturally. They were even 4th of July themed!

Now, before you start thinking I'm a schmuck, I also gave her a gift card for one free overnight babysitting. Talk about valuable. I'd say it's priceless, really. 

Happy Birthday to my young and vibrant niece!