Day 120: Festival

April 30

Vicki participated this year in the National Federation of Music Clubs Piano Festival.  She played two pieces from memory in front of a judge, and was awarded Excellent!  I'm so proud of her, and so thankful for her amazing teacher, who understands Vicki's love of music and puts up with her hatred of practicing.  If anyone local needs a good piano teacher, Brooke Baker is the best!

Day 119: Pre-Practice

April 29

Lexi's practice starts 1/2 hour after Ellie's, so she and I were kicking the ball back and forth while she waited.

Day 118: Agent Ebert

April 28

Vicki's piano teacher is amazing.  The recital this year had a spy theme, and the programs had a "dossier" for each of the students/spies.  It was awesome.  If you enlarge it, you'll be able to read all about my quirky kid. (And any Speaker for the Dead fans will appreciate her alias.)

Day 117: Go Strikers!

April 27

Despite only having half the players there today, Ellie's team still managed to hold on to their undefeated status.  And Ellie's soccer skills are improving!

Day 116: Our Favorite Form of Transportation

April 26

Ellie has been dying to ride her bike to school for ages, and the weather finally accommodated her wishes!

Day 115: Waiting

April 25

Ellie and her friend Anna are waiting for Vicki to practice her piece for the upcoming piano recital.

Day 114: Queen of the Castle

April 24

This slide has scared the living daylights out of me for years.  I almost have to turn around when the girls go down it.  It's just so darn high.

Day 113: Fail

April 23

I don't have any pictures from today.  I'm so disappointed - the last time I forgot to take a picture was in February of 2011.  Although, when I look at it that way, I'm also kind of impressed.

Day 112: A Re-read

April 22

Rebecca, by Daphne DuMaurier.  I remember loving it when I first read it, so I'm excited to see if I still feel the same after 20 years.

Day 111: Grow

April 21

We had a Girl Scout meeting today, and the girls turned these giant cans into planters using scraps of paper and pictures in magazines.  This one was my favorite.

Day 110: Robot Geeks

April 22

Today was the first official meeting of the robot club.  In addition to programming the robot, they'll also have to do a presentation, so Chris taught the kids how to use Google Docs.  We have a pretty sharp - and awesome - group of kids in our circle of friends.

Day 109: Dogwood

April 19

My favorite tree.  I love this time of year, when they're all in bloom.

Day 108: Body Movement

April 18

Ellie's class is studying the human body, and they did this artwork to decorate the hallway.

Day 107: My New "Friend"

April 17

Chris & I are trying to be more healthy, but our old scale was inaccurate enough that a trip to the doctor's office was always a surprise (and not a pleasant one), so we upgraded to this fancy digital scale.  Time to get back on the wagon and take better care of my body!

Day 106: Recess

April 16

I happened to glance out the window from my desk at work and realized that it was my kid on top of the jungle gym.

Day 105: Foreboding Skies

April 15

Fortunately, the rain held off until soccer practice was over.  Barely.

Day 104: Candles

April 14

These candles sit on a shelf in my headboard.

Day 103: Photographic Proof

April 13

At Lexi's soccer game today, the whistle kept getting blown on the throw-ins because the girls kept lifting up their back leg.  No one disputed the fact, but if they had, here's proof at least that Lexi did.  She played really well, though, and had a great time doing it.

Day 102: Greek Salad

April 12

My favorite.

Day 101: Googly-Eye Sticks

April 11

I have no idea what these are, or what they were for, but Ellie was playing with them during Vicki's piano lesson.

Day 100: Crossing Guard Duty

April 10

I'm pretty sure I have another picture here that's very similar to this one, but since I do this every week, it was bound to happen.

Day 99: Soccer Practice Entertainment

April 9

I love how easily transportable books are these days.

Day 98: Springtime in Oregon

April 8

An umbrella is our constant companion this time of year.

Day 97: Looking Out the Window

April 7

Chris and I spent pretty much the entire day sitting on the bed with our laptops going over our budget for the year, something we usually do in January, but with school I've just been way too busy until now.  We watched the weather do its weird thing from our window, and this is the only picture I took all day long.

Day 96: First Soccer Games

April 6

(I couldn't pick just one!)

Lexi and Ellie played their first soccer games today.  They both did a great job and, more importantly, had a great time!  Both even came close to scoring goals.  Lexi played goalie for the entire first half of her game, and Ellie did a great job making sure she always kicked the ball in the right direction (it's a hard thing to remember when you switch sides at halftime).  It looks like we may have many more soccer seasons in our future, so it's a good thing both Chris & I enjoyed cheering as much as the girls enjoyed playing.

Day 95: Spring!

April 5

I love it when our tree is in full bloom!

Day 94: Line Up

April 4

Apparently, this is how kindergartners are supposed to line up at school.  My favorite is the John Travolta kid on the left.

Day 93: Corner Kick

April 3

Even though she's genetically pre-disposed to lack any natural athletic ability (sorry about that, kiddo), Ellie's a very enthusiastic soccer player.  Their first game is this weekend, so at the end of today's practice her team played a scrimmage against a team practicing on the next field.

Day 92: Cutie

April 2

This evening I started catching up on this blog, and Ellie kept me company.  She asked if today's picture could be of her, so here she is.

Day 91: Big Thick Glasses

April 1

I got new glasses recently (after 10 years!) and Ellie is fascinated with just how poor my vision really is.  "Hey, Mom, I can almost make them work for me if I go like this!"