Updates in April and May

So here's why I've been slacking at the blog lately.  The keyboard on our 6 year old laptop is shot. To type anything on that computer I have to click away at the on-screen keyboard with my mouse and it's terribly tedious!  You might have noticed most of my blog posts lately have been heavy with photos and not so many words.  Now you know why. I really miss the thrill of having words bursting in my head for a blog post and have to wait until the other laptop is available.  Often, when I wait. The idea I had earlier just doesn't seem interesting enough to write about.  More likely, I'm just too tired later to do anything but glue my eyes to Game of Thrones.

So much has been going on lately and life is busy, yada, yada, yada.  March through May in our family is one birthday celebration after another and seems to consume most of my time.  It also seems that once I take a blog vacation-even if it's for no more than a week-I start noticing how much other reading I get done.  I've been diving in to some old issues of The New Yorker and man, there is some good stuff in there.

ICS Spring Carnival

But I do miss blogging and there have been some notable activities that I can't seem to let go of.

We hosted a wonderful birthday party for Arabella's fourth birthday.  I enjoyed celebrating with just our family on her actual birthday-day but I'm not going to lie; throwing birthday parties for my daughters might just be my very favorite past time.  Everyone dined on my Paris-inspired Make-Your-Own-Crepe buffet complete with savory and sweet concoctions.  The kids bounced around on the blow-up castle and the Moms had a well deserved mid-day glass of wine.  Arabella loves Wreck-it Ralph and was thrilled with her green cake decorated like Sugar Rush.  The filling inside was strawberry whipped buttercream and it was heavenly.

Adelaide preformed in her Spring Concert at ICS.  The singing was adorable but my favorite part was the class poem that she performed.  Along with four of her classmates she recited two tongue twisting lines to a poem in front of everyone.  She was brave and spoke loudly and confidently.  I was extremely proud of her.

The same day as the concert I organized a surprise breakfast for her teachers as a thanks since it was Teacher Appreciation week.  One of the teachers was a tad annoyed so I just have to keep in mind that no good dead goes unpunished.  Her second teacher was very grateful and even commented on how no one has ever planned something for Teacher Appreciation Week for him.  Even if, the whole thing didn't go over as I had planned, it was still good to round up the parent troops and thank our hard working teachers.

I've been cooking and baking. Some for parties we've attended and some for custom orders.  Business has been fairly steady and I am still enjoying the challenges.  Sadly, I've had to turn down a few catering requests for the sheer size of the event, knowing I couldn't create enough food that would be fresh for everyone.  Those situations make me sad but relieved as well since I can say no when I know I need to.

Mother's Day was a relaxed day at home.  The weather right now, in between short rainy season and long rainy season, is sunny and exceptionally warm. Not hot but just perfect so the girls all put on their swimming suits and we got out the water table.  I made some grape Kool-Aid (God Lord those packets call for 8 ounces of sugar-I added about a quarter of that to our drink.  No wonder I loved Kool-Aid as a kid).  Justin made breakfast and I didn't do any dishes all day.  The girls picked out lovely silver earrings for me as a Mother's Day gift  and we went to Sishu for lunch! It was a great family day together.  I was in awe observing my daughters that Sunday.  All three of them are special and amazing and so much fun to be around.  I can't believe how lucky I am to be their mother.

Booty shake