We’re recuperating after a full week of the Dogwood Festival directly (and I mean, directly) across the street from our house. It’s always a fun week that the kids look forward to all year long. I can’t say that we’re sad to see it go come Saturday night though. The kids feel a bit differently though. Ashlyn took great comfort this year in knowing that the rides were leaving to go to someone else’s festival after ours.

What a fun day mother’s day is…got to stay in bed a little longer this morning (until about 7:30….woo hoo!), got some pancakes and a decorated plate at breakfast, got some adorable kid gifts and a gift certificate to a local salon/spa. Very fun stuff. This may have been my best Mother’s Day yet because the two older kids were old enough to really get into it. They made things in school and made me cards and hid them in their rooms. They were so excited to give them to me (mind you, Evan asked when Evan’s Day is….). It made the day really special. I missed seeing my own mom who was hosting a big shin-dig down at her place in Ellicott City, MD with all the extended fam. Don’t worry–the food was from a restaurant; she didn’t cook. But, we spent the beautiful day with my mother-in-law who is near sainthood. So, it was good to be with her. We had a picnic lunch in the park and then just hung out at her place. She even had a little scavenger hunt for the kids with gummi bears at the end. :) It’s 9PM now and Mark and I are about to sit down and have a late dinner by ourselves…after he finishes packing Evan’s lunch for tomorrow. Nice. 

On Thursday, Barkley had an “arts open house.” I knew that Evan was part of a 1st and 2nd grade sing along that night. So, the family went. But, I was cameraless and camcorderless because I really thought we’d just walk around and then sing a few songs. When we got there, the auditorium was packed out. It was a full blown band concert and chorus dealie. The band, made up of 4th and 5th graders, was pretty cute. Among other tunes, we heard B-I-N-G-O, with a consistent off note for the top note—hilarious. And, my personal favorite, a lively rendition of Ghostbusters. They would play and then yell out the “GHOSTBUSTERS” part. Drew turned to Mark at that point and said, “That’s not ‘Ghostbusters'” with a lot of disappointment. It wasn’t all that recognizable, I admit. Then, we walked around the school for 20 minutes and found all of Evan’s artwork displayed. Mind you, it was killing me that I did not have a camera because this was all such picture-worthy events. Then, they called us all back to the auditorium and welcomed the 1st graders to the stage. Evan was a bit nervous at first and started to fuss and implore us to come up with him. But, when he heard Mr. B’s voice on the microphone telling the kids what to do, he jumped into his “school mode” and marched right on up there. He was so cute singing the songs and smiling at us and occasionally waving. So, unbeknownst to us, we went to our first choral/band concert. It really wasn’t painful as most parents say these things are. The only thing painful about it was that I was not prepared for the event with all my paparazzi equipment. Mark managed to take a pic on his phone–quality stinks. But, at least we have one photo.
If you can find the kid in the middle in the orange striped shirt, waving his hands, Evan is on the right of him wearing a white long sleeve top. I know, it’s nearly impossible to spot him. At least the picture can help us conjure up the image of the night in our own minds. It probably does very little for any of the readers. 

Ash carried a camera around with her yesterday and documented all sorts of things she saw. She’s got it strapped to her already this morning (8 AM) and plans to take it to church. Looking forward to going through hundreds of pictures again tonight. :) Here are some that made me smile.