On Mother's Day, Nana Jana & Holly & I all ate breakfast/brunch with Grandma Doris.
We went to church with Sam's folks, which was the flower communion ceremony. I thought we got a family photo, but I guess not! Ha! And then I went into work!
Sam and his mom both got me stained glass pieces. Look how pretty!
The kids made me an ice cream cake:
And Leah brought this home from school:
I'm not 100% the big kids would get my exact age right either. Ha!
Happy (belated) Mother's Day!
James won the Courageous Cougar award & Grandma Mary & Papaw came for the ceremony.
Here's the link to his first day of Kindergarten.
Amelie opted not to go to the 8th grade promotion ceremony last night - I’m not sure why! She had a good end to the year! I did convince her to pick up a yearbook, but now I need to pay her back $20 for it. Leah's the only kid going to summer school.
Amelie & her cousin Ellie were in one (1) class together this whole time at Jeff Middle School - and it was an elective called "Musical Theater Production." They put on a play at Lautner Auditorium (on the Columbia College campus.)
Amelie was "Old Lady #2" and Ellie was "Valley Girl" in "Ever After: The Musical."
James & Leah & Sam & I came to the first showing. I took several bad photos! It was super cute!
There was a conga line:
It was a talk-show format.
Here are both of the little old ladies - they thought everything was "just so beautiful!" - there was lots of (fake) crying - otherwise known as *acting*.
Teen Birthday Interview
Amelie is 14! Actually a teen!
She had a sleepover party & I took no photos! 4 girls came over & ate Chinese food and stayed up late & jumped on the trampoline & doodled & drew on themselves & played instruments & had ice cream sundaes & opened presents & watched movies & convinced me to sign up for a free trial of Apple TV so they could watch a particular show & did A LOT of talking. It was pretty chill!
For her birthday meals, she had crepes with a candle in it and suffered through us singing "Happy Birthday" for breakfast. I packed special Bluey fruit snacks for snack and she chose Dairy Queen for dinner. I didn't make a cake and she didn't notice. For our present, we got her a paraffin wax melt (for hands and feet - just exactly like the one my Aunt Juli had in the 90’s!) & are going to redecorate her room when school gets out!
Amelie's decided to take a break from Band, so she had her last concert. They've improved so much since the 6th grade!
That's another soccer season in the books. Leah's successfully managed to keep up the "Cheetah" nickname on Team Mexico. The last game was on Saturday, and boy was it warm & bright! It makes you understand why they play in the Spring & Fall. They had cupcakes with green icing to celebrate afterward. It was hard to believe that no games were rained out, either - but they did have one practice in the drizzle.
She had a game the same day as Fun Day, which was not ideal - but she got her hair colored green
I don't think they officially keep score, but the record was 6-0, undefeated!
(The other week) We had a big week! Amelie went to the 8th grade school dance on Friday.
We'd talked about getting her a new dress for the dance & then it never happened - so I hatched a plan to pick her up from school on Friday & just go then, but she didn't check her phone & got straight on the bus. I tried to creep around across the street & wave her down when she changed busses, but one of the elementary teachers saw me & waved James & Leah over, too! Ha! I was trying to steal Amelie real quick without them seeing me (& also certainly breaking protocol), but they appreciated the car ride home instead of the bus.
I went down with Jobs with Justice to formally turn in all of our signatures on the minimum wage petition on Wednesday. It was exciting carrying all the boxes in! Over 210,000 signatures in total - collected from every county in Missouri.
Amelie held forth on Sunday! She conquered fears (and procrastination) & gave her statement of faith as a culmination of the wonderful coming of age program at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbia. It was lovely to hear all the big ideas and opinions of the kids growing up and entering full participation in the church.
What is James doing in the background??
I used to be much better at jotting these down!
Here are some funny things Leah has said recently.
(After swim:) Why are swimsuits observant?
Finally I figured out that she meant absorbent. (They're not! I still don't know what she meant!)
Sometimes she sounds so mature!
Sam: The house across the fence gave away their trampoline
Leah: To whom???
Leah had a rash on both elbows and to Sam she said, "This one is the most affected."
And other times not so much, like when she said: It’s not the best taffy I’ve ever aten but it tastes better than it smells.
She still pronounces the streaming service “Neck Flicks”
The other day she was describing something small to Aunt Lana and said it was “yea big” complete with a motion indicating the size.
This one is from James: What’s that thing with the boy and the girl and they become thieves and kind of go ham on the town?
(The answer was Bonnie and Clyde)
