Last Day of School!

In May, I had an incredibly busy work month culminating in a 2-day trip to New York, which was a major project milestone and a huge relief to get out of the way. The following weekend we celebrated with a great visit from our friends Duane and Sarah -- which I unfortunately didn't capture on film -- and James's rugby crawfish boil. It was GOOOOD! Three of the guys on the team were from New Orleans and really knew what they were doing -- we couldn't peel them fast enough for the kids, who also enjoyed sucking the meat out of the heads. Truly James's children.

 

Unbelievably, the last day of school was last Friday! Compare to first day of school pictures here. Rosemary had her first sleepover after her dance recital on Friday -- which I managed SOLO as James was out of town. Actually the girls (Esme and Rosemary) were very good and I even heard Rosemary lecturing to Esme: "Shhh... no more talking!!!" (She's good at lecturing these days... when we were camping she told Flora, "FLORA! Two wrongs don't make a right!!!")

 

Rosemary's recital was cute-as-ever, though you may notice she is not quite as beaming/satisfied with herself for being in the recital. She actually (shh, don't tell) looked pretty bored through the whole thing... or is it smug? My guess is that ballet/dance is not her calling -- I'm thinking of signing her up for karate later this summer. Anyway, I'll post the cute part only, which is pretty cute. And, equally cute/hilarious, was Miles and Louis playing in the background during the recital (until they got in trouble and one of the teachers took them outside).

Sigh. Now we just have to manage sassy Rosemary and increasingly stubborn Louis over the next few months. The agony (these are all quotes from the last two days): "Mom, this isn't fresh squeezed? Really?!?!" "Mom, are you listening? Are you even smart?!?" (That one was exceptionally bad, but I'm still recording it here -- no use in hiding the truth!). Louis doesn't say too many sassy things, but he did learn to take the child-lock off the inside of his door (which we have there so he can't escape and eschew nap time) and *hide* it so Kyle couldn't find it. Fortunately he hid it in the same place, twice. And the ecstasy: "Mom, how else can I help you?" (said in all sincerity!) "Mom, why did they have to appetize Esme?" (baptize). And Louis still gives "bi-haos" (big hugs).