Big Week!

 (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. 

I was on the news! (minute mark 2:00 if you want to skip to me, but the whole thing isn't long)

It was Fancy Friday at the elementary school. 

James finished ST Math for the year & demanded a cake. He wanted to be the one to frost & decorate it. We made a red velvet from scratch so Leah could eat it. (It says: No. More. JiJi. He cut the slices such that at the end we were left with the word NO and the penguin's face, which James rightfully pointed out still means "No more JiJi." 

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. 

My friend Heidi got a clearer photo. Nana Jana & Sam's folks were able to be there as well. 

Also not pictured, Leah had a soccer game & James had a ukulele recital! Leah couldn't go to the recital because of prior plans, so we did a mini one at home. Here's a video: 

What is James doing in the background??