Where to begin...

So, it's been a while since I last posted anything here. Life has just been running at 100 mph and I can't seem to get the conductor to let me off this train. I've been putting in some really long work weeks that include fielding calls and running processes at 1, 3 and 5am some mornings.

My best friend from college visited over Memorial Day weekend. We spent the weekend alternating between busy-fun things and nothing. Both were fun enough. The nothing often involved margaritas, beer or vodka Collins on my patio while Evie played in the backyard. Evie wept most of Memorial Day when Kandi had to fly home. The saving grace is that we're planning a trip to Disney together in September. I'd read about this great deal where rates were low and the dining plan was free. We booked the reservation and have now all booked our plane tickets as well. Guess that means we're really going. It's going to be a great, great time. I got reservations for lunch at Cinderella's castle, breakfast at the Crystal Palace, Dinner at Teppanyaki in Japan, Wolfgang Puck's Bistro in Downtown Disney and a surprise for Friday night. I'm sure Kandi is dying to know what it is, but I'm not silly enough to put it in my blog.

Kevin's band concert was a week and a half ago, so that stressed has passed. His concert band did a really good job. I really like the march they did and I hate marches. Specifically anything by Sousa, but Kevin, being a proud Jacksonville State University Marching Southerner Alumni wouldn't play Sousa.... would he? At least he didn't this year. Evie was better behaved than normal. Maybe that's getting better with age? I'm not holding my breath. She looked beautiful as always. You'll find pics at Yahoo!

Last week was the class picnic and field day at Evie's elementary school. On Wednesday, the picnic was held indoors to "keep the bugs off of me". At least that was Evie's explanation. I came by to help the teacher and the classroom had food on every flat surface: chips, pizza, doughnuts, cupcakes, candy goodie bags, pb crackers, fruit & veggie trays, soda, and juice. After they'd committed one of the seven deadly sins (gluttony), we headed outside. They played with all sorts of outside games: Frisbees, balls, badminton, wiffle balls, etc. They whacked a pinata and trust me when I tell you that the girls seemed to have some frustrations to work through with that aluminum baseball bat. They'd have made Tony Soprano proud. We ended the day with a big water balloon fight. I burst balloons on Evie's head & then upon request on the heads of several of her friends. Of course, I then got nailed right in the back by a girl named Gabrielle. Field day was Thursday. They ran three-legged races, potato sack races, kicked soccer balls played with the parachute we all loved in gym class as children and a variety of other fun activities. The best thing is they were racing each other or other classes. No one got upset when you weren't fast enough. They just did it for fun and all the kids cheered for every one. I'm not one of those parents that doesn't think you should keep score in a baseball game or that 3 outs doesn't mean anything because everybody gets a chance to bat. I just really loved the way this was run, fun for even the clumsiest of children. I'll be loading up pictures & videos soon.

We received the results of her PALS testing and she did excellent, of course. How Mrs. Gray got her to sit down and stay focused to do it is beyond me.

I've spent most of the last 3 days working on costumes & props for the dance studio. The recital is coming up the third weekend in June and each year, I donate a bulk of my time to it. Saturday was costume picture day. Evie looked adorable in her white stiff tutu for ballet and her pink panther costume for her tap class. I should have those scanned in soon enough.

Some new pics are in the 5.5 Years Old album at http://photos.yahoo.com/riebie