The Goings On at We 3 Queens

Can you believe it's already May? That's just crazy enough to make me want to dress in drag and do the hula. And now that you have such an image in your head, I will proceed to update you on what's been happening around here.

*You can imagine me swaying my hips in an uncoordinated manner and nearly throwing my shoulder out of joint as my brain tries to communicate to the upper half of my body that it needn't go overboard so as not to make the lower half of my body look like it is trying to juggle an octopus. Our daughters get their mad dancing skills from me, don't-ya-know?*

Update numero uno:
Roof replaced. Good-bye tax return. *sniff, sniff* Hello beautiful new shingely roof top.

Second: Soccer. And yay for soccer, and fun and running, but woo hoo for no more early morning games. The kids had so much fun. For a few weeks. Then the novelty wore off and it became a chore. But just when those feelings began to surface, the season ended.

Tres: Hunter got a 4.0 GPA! Go Buddy! He is seriously so amazingly smart, I sometimes question his gene pool. Every quarter, there is an assembly honoring the smarty pants kids, and our boy made the Superintendent's list. We were sent home notifications of the assembly date and times. (There would be two separate assemblies, one for the 5th and 6th graders, and one for the 7th and 8th graders; one right after the other.) Well, spacey casey here looked at the wrong time on the flyer and I walked in just as his assembly was getting over. I felt awful! I had missed my boy standing up to receive his high honor. But he was so sweet, when I went to his class to give him a hug and apologize, he goes, "Don't worry Mom! Hey! You want to see my certificate?" And just like that, I was forgiven. Ahhh, the unconditional love of children.

Fourth: Because Sir Hunter achieved a 4.0, we gave him some money to show him how proud we were of him. He made the decision all on his own to get Corrine to pitch in her money so they could save together for a trampoline. Well, on one particular Saturday, when the kids and I were at soccer games, Michael surprised the kids and brought one home. The kids were so thrilled! There isn't a day that has passed when they haven't been out there jumping on the "jumpeen ween", as Laynee has dubbed it.

5th: Turkey, turkey, turkey, turkey! It's Spring turkey season. This year, we all got to go out and try to rustle us up some dinner. I don't even think I need to tell you we were successful. I'll let the pictures do that.

And: A field trip with Corrine's class to the Wildlife Safari.

Poor Cheetah Girl had a hurt tail. She was letting everyone within a 10 mile radius know of her pain, too. Have I told you how Laynee feels about loud noises? She runs screaming into her bedroom when she so much as sees me pull the blender or the vacuum out. Her feelings about the Cheetah roar were only mildly shown. Because she was in public and heaven forbid she be seen in public running and screaming away from a Cheetah behind an electrical cage.

And: Cupcake making 101. Here's a tip: When the directions for White Chocolate cuppy cakes tell you to gently fold in the melted chocolate with the rest of the batter, that's not just there to meet a word requirement in an article. No, it's there because they really really want you to gently fold in the melted chocolate with the rest of the batter. If you fail to follow these directions, you may end up with hollow cupcakes. But not that I would know...

And: Playing Catch Phrase with cousins is especially fun. Funny story: It was Cassidy's turn to try to get the other two girls to guess her word. She told them it was a food, and then raised her arms in a circle over her head while kneeling on the ground. "Tomato! Orange! Apple!" Corrine and Ashley guessed every round food they could imagine but never named the food Cass was imitating. Finally, in exasperation, she stands up and says, "This is too hard! It was an English muffin."

The whole reason for our trip to the Motherland was to celebrate the birth of baby Taylor and to shower her momma with some lovey stuff. I can't even tell you how it made my heart swell to be with members of my extended family that I rarely get to see. The above picture on the left is (from left to right) my good lookin' uncle Glen, my beautiful aunt Terrie, and my handsome Pa. Siblings. Don't they all look amazing? I hail from that gene pool, folks. *Michael sniff*. Oh, and the other half of my gene pool is pictured above as well. Hello my pretty mama!

The proud parents of the precious baby girl. Love them. All.

Another award that our boy achieved was his Arrow of Light for scouts. It was such a cool ceremony, and I had tears of pride in my eyes. I put Corrine in charge of the camera. She took about 5 pictures. The one below is the best one she took. Sweet girl. Her other skills will more than compensate for her lack of skills with the photo equipment.

I love my brothers. I only wish all 4 of them could have been there. There as in 'there when this picture was taken' not there at the Arrow of Light ceremony. Sheesh. Keep up with me. But, hey, I'll take what I can get from these two gentlemen. Seriously, how did I luck out?

Ummm, as far as this shot of Laynee, I figured you would enjoy the view. She's a fireball, that one. And we love every flame she throws at us!

Part of the treat of visiting our families was visiting one of my besties, Crystal and her 3 babies. We have some good memories together. So sad that we don't live closer. It's only a matter of time though, right Crystal?

Phew! I don't know about you but my right trigger finger is numb from all the clicking that took to post all those photos, and I've got the Dora Band-aides to prove it. Trust me when I tell you there is way more where those came from. But I like to keep my audience wanting more.

Until next time, enjoy this short-ish video of one of the many fun things we had going on 'round here.

Nachita Maria vs. Nachito Libre y Eskeleto

(aka: Grandma vs. Hunter & Corrine)