A Farmer's Dinner

We had our first dinner from the garden tonight: pasta with fresh marina! Grace was so excited to be eating our home grown food, and... it was delicious!!

We picked our best tomatoes,

and blended them well.

We picked lots of fresh herbs (especially basil, oregano and parsley!),

added them and gave them a chop!

Then we let it cook,

and cook some more (Grace stood over the stove the whole time!).

Our finished marina... so fresh and yum!!

It even got good reviews from Marion :)

We have lots more coming in our garden! The eggplant and squash are about to flower. Everything has at least quadrupled in size already.

The hot peppers are about 6 inches long!

We have tons of bell peppers!

The spring mix has sprouted... from seed!

...and our blueberries have started to turn ready. We have been getting about a handful a day.

Recital 2010

Grace had another fabulous year at dance! She was wonderful at her recital!

Her tap number, "Moulin Rouge"
(she is 3rd from the right)

Her ballet number, "Japanese Lullaby"
(she is 4th from the left)

Grace, Meredith, Natalie, Emma and Ava

Finale!

After the show, with her flowers and gifts!

Say Cheese!!!

I've been trying to take better pictures of the girls. Photographers can be so expensive! I'm no professional, and I'm sure the pros could do a bit better of a job... but there is something very satisfying about pictures of my kids, in my yard, taken by me :)

Grace

Marion

Mama Bird

Today was one of those yucky, pouring rain days. We went to St.Thomas for mass this morning and Grace worked on this masterpiece all afternoon. She named it "Mama Bird."

Grace loves to see her work framed and hung :)

Bling Bling!

Take a look at these sweet and innocent little earlobes...

They are no more! Grace got her ears pierced today!! We had been talking about it for quite some time. It all started when she told me she did not want to wear the SH uniform next year because it was too plain. I assured her that we would do what it took to make her fancy... bows, earrings, wait... did I just agree to earrings?!

At first she was scared of the pain and just kept saying she would have it done before starting school next year. After months of questioning, "Mom, tell me, exactly WHAT does it feel like??," she decided on Tuesday that she was ready.

Last night I offered ice cream if she made it through without crying...

"Mom, when they pierce my ears, I might get water in my eyes, but it's just because I am SO HAPPY that I am getting my ears pierced. It is NOT crying."

Well, my girl did awesome today!! I even tried to talk her out of it a little bit this morning. She was ready though. There were no tears, just a bit of nervousness, but not even too much. She chose the crystal flowers and they are as cute as can be!!

So grown up!

Beauty and the Beast

Me with my Big Girl... ready for our date!

After the waffles were eaten and the gifts opened, Grace and I got dressed up and headed out on our date! We had tickets to see Beauty and the Beast at the Saenger Theater downtown. It was a production of the Hattiesburg Light Opera.

We also were lucky enough to get some last minute tickets from a friend to a Tea Party with the cast of the show. It was so much fun!!!

Babette, autographing our teacups!

Mrs.Potts, in a very appropriate pose :)

BELLE!!!

Yes, this was THE Belle, all the way from Disney ;)

Gaston with his sidekick, LeFou. Look at the muscles on Gaston! Grace and I talked about how cute he was the whole way home :)

One of our teacups, autographed by the cast!

After the Tea, we walked to the gourmet pizzeria downtown and had lunch. Then, it was time for the show...They sold these light up red roses as soon as you walked through the door, only $5! ;) At the end, the audience waved their roses in the air in the dark theater to help the Beast transform back into Prince Charming.

I wish you all could see the show, it was FABULOUS!!! The acting, singing, dancing, and the set... all wonderful. Grace and I both absolutely loved it. It was the best Mother's Day ever :)

Grace with Belle

Mother's Day 2010

Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas out there!! We've had so much fun today. We woke up and made waffles, which we ate on paper plates... no more dishes than necessary on Mother's Day! The girls gave me their gifts... the sweetest one is the handprint/footprint garden stone next to them in the photo. They also gave me a gift certificate to a local boutique and a bird bead for my Pandora bracelet. I love it all :)

Marion and Daddy then headed out on a date to the zoo and to lunch. Grace and I went on a date to the Saenger Theater to see the Hattiesburg Light Opera's performance of Beauty and the Beast.

farming

We started a vegetable garden.... tomatoes, bell peppers, hot peppers, okra, cucumbers, eggplant, squash, cantaloupe and watermelon!

Grace loves to garden!

The proud farmers!!

end of PK3 party

With two weeks of school left, Grace had her end of the year party. First, the kids went from station to station, each one put on by the moms of a different class. I helped 50 four-year-olds make chocolate pudding "dirt cups," with crushed Oreo cookie dirt and gummy worms. At the other stations, they made visors, birdfeeders, and got tattooed! Ours was the yummiest :)

These are some of her best friends from the year.

Grace and Meredith... Grace will miss her next year :(

This pictures is SO Grace! It just really captures her sass!

Mrs.K's PK3 Class