Photos from backstage at Caitlin's Dance Recital

I waited with Caitlin and her friends backstage for the 7pm dance recital. Caitlin and her friend from the Lyrical dance class started dancing around, just making stuff up. They were so cute, I had to take a few photos.

PS Jeff took recital photos with his professional camera. Those will be coming soon!

First Harvest

For dinner we had my favorite swiss chard dish and the swiss chard came from my garden! Now that's local!

Yeast rolls in summer

Note to self: when making yeast bread dough and the temperature is 90 degrees in the shade, reduce the rise time significantly, or the dough plumps up over the edge of the bowl and gets thoroughly out of control.

AND ..... I'm done!

Caitlin had her dance recital tonight. For the afternoon performance she danced with her jazz class to the song "Splish Splash" and with her friend Lyra in the Lyrical class's performance of "Shadow of the Day". She did a repeat of the Lyrical performance in the evening show. She was just wonderful. After the first performance, she was convinced that the Lyrical dance was terrible. She was in tears. But, after an ice cream (which does wonders for just about any problem) and a very helpful talk with my friend Maureen about how every dancer feels that they didn't perform perfectly but the audience never knows, she really perked up. For the evening performance, she danced almost exactly the same moves, but with a new level of confidence. She left that stage really proud of herself and it was a wonderful thing to see.
So, after softball, dance classes, softball play-offs, recital rehearsals, end-of-the season softball parties, and recitals, I am done. I am so happy to be done. I think I might actually have 15 minutes of calm and quiet tomorrow. I really hope so.

Awesome Mother's Day

Jeff and the girls gave me an awesome Mother's Day. It started with breakfast in bed, including delicious eggs, toast, coffee, and a vase full of beautiful buttercups from our field.


Then I got my gifts. One was the incredibly cool and fast camera that I used to take a picture of the buttercups. The other? It seems like it was created just for me. Chocolate - yes. And, the shape, you wonder? The chocolates were in the shape of a HIGH HEELED SHOE!!! No way, you say? True story. Check out the picture. (Also taken with the fantastic camera!)



See. I kid you not. Carrie Bradshaw, eat your heart out.

Bedtime story switchup

I had a little bit of a headache tonight so I laid down for a little bit. Around Caitlin's bedtime I got up so I could read her a bedtime story. Caitlin had another idea. "Here Mom, you lay down on my bed and I'll sit in the chair and read to you." And she did. She read to me from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. And I curled up on her bed and nearly fell asleep. (FYI, I did rouse myself and tuck her in instead.)

Gwen's First Softball Game - Ever

Gwen's team had their first softball game today. It was really fun. The girls have only had two weeks of practice and have come really far. And the coach is just wonderful. She completely focuses on athletics, sportmanship, and fun. It really isn't about winning and the girls really know that.

Here are a few pictures of Gwen warming up.