The theme was flowers!

What did you get for Mother's Day this year? Hannah painted a flower pot at school and gave that to me on the Friday before Mother's Day. She did a great job on it, is so proud of it and couldn't wait to give it to me. I do need to seal it somehow since the colors can run when you water the plant but I didn't want to kill the plant with sealer so for now I just try not to get the pot wet when watering.

On Mother's Day, I took Emily to her confirmation class and then went out to the store while she was there. While I was gone, Paul took Hannah to the flower shop to get me flowers from him and the girls. Now you have to know Hannah to truly appreciate the flowers that I received. Everything Hannah draws has a rainbow on it. She loves rainbows so when she saw these rainbow roses they were it as far as she was concerned!

The colors are great and they look beautiful on the kitchen table and most importantly they make me smile whenever I walk out into the kitchen.

Thank You ... or something else?

What do you say when someone compliments your child? Thank you just doesn't seem right but agreeing with them somehow seems wrong too. I've been going through that this week after the Talent Show at school.

The Talent Show is an 8th grade project in that they produce the whole show with the help of the music teacher. What a big job it is to put it all together and I think they did great! Last year there were 16 8th graders and the show was held in the church. This year there are only 6 kids and we actually rented an auditorium at a school near ours. YIKES!! It went extremely well considering all there was to do. Yes, there were a few problems when the sound system didn't work quite right but all in all it was a wonderful night and everyone (performers and attendees) enjoyed themselves.

Hannah was in two numbers (and the finale which included all of the performers in the show and all of the 8th graders) in the Talent Show this year. First, she was in a magic act with one of the boys, Nicholas, in her class. The magic wasn't super impressive from either of them but Nicholas was hilarious and Hannah made a pretty decent straight man even though I don't think she had a clue that that was what she was doing. This year, Hannah decided that she wanted to sing too. She worked hard and learned all the words (I was concerned for awhile there about that) and Emily worked with her on doing a dance routine with it while she sang. During the rehearsals, Hannah didn't do the dance because she was nervous but she pulled out all the stops at the show and sang and danced her heart out!! The only problem was the microphone was off so you could barely hear her - aaargh! About halfway through the M.C. came out and gave her a new mic but that one didn't work. Poor kid but she never missed a beat and just kept going. So many people came up and said they should have had her do her number again. Oh, what did she sing? Hilary Duff's Why Not.

As a member of the 8th grade class, Emily was the Talent Coordinator for the show - I'm not sure what all that entailed but there was talent so I think she did her job. Ü In addition, Emily also performed in two numbers and the finale. Emily and one of her best friends, JoAnna, did a duet of Our Lips Are Sealed. No, not the GoGos version but the remake by Hilary and Hayley Duff. And, Emily was the last act before the finale where she sang Christine Aguilera's Beautiful. She was awesome and I have been told by more than one person that Emily was definitely the star of the show! As a parent I wish she had remembered to take her jacket off and she had intended to but that didn't detract from her voice which was amazing.

So, to get back to my original question ... what is the correct response when someone says something like "Wow! Emily has an amazing voice."? Thank you just doesn't seem right but yes, she definitely does.

Events of Spring

Life just seems to be moving at a frenetic pace these days. The yearbook was due just after school let out for Spring Break and because we wanted to get as many events into it as possible, I was taking pictures for it almost up and until the deadline. It did get completed by the deadline and I think it came out really well. I'm anxious to see what it will look like but will have to wait until early June to see the final product. Every year I tell myself that there must be a better way of handling the yearbook so that it's not so frantic right around the deadlines but every year it seems to be that way. I thought maybe it might be less so this year since we did the whole thing online but since our deadlines were extended we were able to include more events so it was just as hectic. I'm hoping to have some time to figure out how to streamline the process for next year - of course I say that every year! My next task for school is to get all of the photos uploaded so that parents can purchase the ones they want. We haven't ever done this before either but people always want copies of the photos and I don't have time to do it and keep track of it so this way parents will be able to just buy what they want and hopefully the school will make some money too.

On the evening before Easter, the girls were baptized. We never had them baptized as infants and so we decided to wait until they wanted to do it and understood what it meant. This year both girls really wanted to be baptized and the rector at the church associated with their school was thrilled to have the opportunity to perform the baptisms. It was a lovely night with the baptisms done by candlelight before an Easter service. Emily & Hannah's Aunt Mary, Aunt Karen & Uncle Mark graciously accepted the task of being the girls godparents. I didn't take any photos and really should have. It would have been very difficult to take pictures of the actual baptism since the lighting was so low but I should have gotten pictures with the girls and Fr. Chris and the girls and their godparents. Since I didn't I plan on setting this up in the future so that we have photos commemorating this important event in their lives. We're very proud of both of the girls for wanting to take this step.

Easter was bittersweet this year. Hannah informed us that she knew that the Easter Bunny wasn't real. Now, I knew this had to be coming but it's sad when this magic is past. On the other hand, we can probably just do Easter baskets and not have to do the egg hunt at home next year. Ü This year we did have Easter baskets and an Easter egg hunt at home and then went to Paul's parents' house and had another Easter egg hunt.

After the Easter egg hunt we once again tried to get a picture of Emily & Hannah and their cousins. Tried is the operative word here - one of their cousins didn't want any part of it this year and would only sit for a few photos. I'm not thrilled with any of them but this is probably the best of the bunch ...

I did get a few sweet ones of Emily with her cousin including this one:

So, now Easter is over and the countdown to the end of the school year has begun. It's amazing to think that in less than 2 months Emily will be done with Middle School. I guess it's time to get busy and start planning the 8th Grade Graduation but before that we have the School Talent Show and the Ballet Spring Program and probably at least a dozen other things!

It doesn't feel like home just yet but ...

Not quite a year ago, Pickwick's Pub, the pub that we called home, was set on fire by an arsonist. Pickwick's was the pub where I first met a Cowsill back in 1990 and more importantly where Paul and I met and where we got engaged on Valentine's Day in 1992. Our friends all teased us that we'd have to hold the wedding at Pickwick's too but even we drew the line there. We did invite some of our close friends from the pub, including the owners at the time, to the wedding but we didn't hold it at the pub.

After the fire it was like a part of our lives was missing. We still went out to see Bob Cowsill play at other pubs but they just weren't Pickwick's. We didn't know if the pub would reopen or not but last Saturday, not quite a year after the fire closed Pickwick's, the pub quietly re-opened. Then, on St. Patrick's Day, Bob Cowsill along with Robby Scharf & Dan McNamara provided entertainment for the first time in the newly reopened Pickwick's Pub!

It's going to take some getting used to before the new Pickwick's Pub is as much home as the old Pickwick's was but I'm sure we'll get there. One thing that will certainly help with that homey feeling is that Bob Cowsill is back to singing at Pickwick's every Friday night just like he was when I first started going to the pub. I'm thrilled that Pickwick's is back in business and am already planning to hold my 50th birthday party there!

Can you be happy & sad at the same time?

As the parent of a soon to be high-schooler who was just accepted to the school of her choice the answer is a resonding yes!

We are thrilled that Emily was accepted to both schools she applied to and most especially to the school that she really wants to attend. Yet it's bittersweet at the same time because I can't imagine her not attending her current school. She's been there since Kindergarten and it just feels like home to all of us. Hannah's still there - for now anyway - she may be moving too since she's the only girl in her class. So, this may be good-bye for us to a school that we really love and that we've really been involved with on pretty much a daily basis since Emily started there.

Oh, and did I forget to mention, that tuition for Emily will be almost double next year? That part is definitely not fun but we knew it was coming. We''re really happy with the schools that Emily did apply to and we're looking forward to a great four years with our almost high-schooler!