KABOOM!!

So we are getting our alley redone, and on Thursday morning they were tearing it up right behind our house, and we could see it from our backyard. Sometimes the house would shake, and sometimes the booms would sound like thunder. Work continues to go on further down the alley, so we can still hear the bulldozers and everything.

This is when they were right by our driveway.

He tried to pick it up, but dropped it.

And he picked it up again.

Here is a picture of the door and window by the family room. It has been finished for a while now; sorry I haven't put a picture up.

Last night we had a graduation party for Amy. Lots of people came, and we were glad about that. Here is Amy with our friend Dorinda.

Melissa made amazing cupcakes.

Oh, I made lemon bars, and there were 54. We ate them all. I think I ate six.

Amy has Graduated!!

On Thursday our relatives, Uncle David, Auntie Charlotte, and cousin Jason, came out. They spent the night, because they were staying with us.
Jason slept in mine and Clara's room, and Clara and I slept in Amy and Melissa's room with them. It was fun to have 4 girls in one room.
On Friday morning we went to the church where the graduation was going to be and set up Amy’s table, with pictures and scrapbooks and things like that.
We went to GFA too. Our relatives got a tour of the office, and we ate lunch there. After that we helped set up things for the GFA picnic.
Some people dressed up as superheroes for the picnic, but some people didn’t. Clara was Magma Girl.

Magma Girl

The parents eating lunch at GFA

The cousins eating lunch at GFA

They had a water slide and a bounce house set up. Lots of people also played Capture the Flag with water balloons.
There was also lots of food. We took onions, fruit salad, and lemon bars. The lemon bars were put in one of the refrigerators at GFA under a container of salad so they were never taken out. We wondered what had happened to them until Dad found them on Monday. We were all happy to have them back and we shared them at a Memorial Day party.

After we ate dinner, some of us went on the water slide a few more times and then we went home to get ready so we could go to the church.

Melissa, Clara, and I, with other underclassmen, were in the candlelight processional. We walked in at the beginning and lined the center aisle, and then the graduates walked in.
The pastor of the church the ceremony was at was the one who spoke. It was a good message, and was about the DNA of leadership. Slideshows of pictures of the seniors played. Near the end of the slideshow Dad came up and gave Amy her diploma and Mom turned the tassel on Amy’s cap.

Receiving the diploma.

Mom turning the tassel

Graduated!

Lots of people we know were able to come to her graduation and stay for the reception afterwards, and that was really special.
At the reception there was food and each senior had a table that they displayed pictures and things on.
It seems so weird that Amy has finished high school.

On Saturday we slept in, which was very nice, and then our relatives drove to Fort Worth to visit some of their other relatives.

On Sunday we went to the church of some of our friends in Fort Worth. Afterwards was the churches spring picnic, and we stayed for that. It was nice to visit with them, and we also met several nice families. We especially enjoyed the tamales they had.

On Saturday, besides being lazy, we actually got some things done. Dad replaced the toilet in the master bathroom. He was going to put on a new wax seal, but when he got it up, there was a crack on the back, so he decided to replace it completely.

We have been getting the house ready to have a graduation party for Amy tomorrow night. It will be after dinner and we'll have desserts and things like that. I'll be making more lemon bars.

Garden Update

This morning I planted some ginger that we had that was sprouting! We also have beets that are sprouting, but Mom isn't convinced that we should plant them. I tried to tell her that we should plant them, and she said that we would only get beet greens, and I said that I didn't mind not having to eat the beets.
One of our garden beds I have dubbed the 'roly-poly garden' because there are a bunch of roly-polys that are eating the small plants. So this morning I put cayenne pepper in it, hoping that that would make them go away or explode them or something. Mom told me that she saw one that was kind of hesitant to walk in the cayenne pepper.
We used to have a problem with ants in one of the other beds, and I looked up natural ways to kill ants, that wouldn't hurt the soil or plants, and there were a bunch of funny ways. Cayenne pepper was one, but we tried the cornmeal one that was supposed to make the ants "swell up and go to the big ant hill in the sky." I think it worked, because there aren't ants now.
We also have these squirrels that keep on eating the apples. Ginger (our dog) always tries to drive them away, but she doesn't always realize they're there, and the squirrels fight over apples. It's really funny to watch them. Ginger sometimes 'stalks' them and it's really funny too.
We have continued to be busy with senior stuff for Amy, and getting ready for her graduation. On Tuesday we went to a senior banquet for the seniors from our homeschool group, and on Thursday we went to one with our church. On Saturday we went to a friend's graduation, and this Friday is Amy's graduation. In just four days!!
My uncle and aunt and cousin will be coming for Amy's graduation, and they'll be staying with us. All of us four girls plan on sleeping in a room together, so that will be fun.

Mothers Day and Pictures

My sisters and I had this scheme to have a restaurant dinner at home for Mom and Dad for Mother's Day.
On Sunday afternoon Dad took Mom to go shoe shopping and to Sprouts. They were gone all afternoon, so we were able to get ready without having to worry about hiding everything. We had decided on an Italian theme, and we named our restaurant Per Amore di Cucina which we hope means For the Love of Food. We had tortellini, spinach linguine, pesto sauce, marinara sauce, sausage, salad, bread, gelato, lavender lemonade, cookies, iced tea, coffee, and hot tea. Melissa made raspberry ice also, but after eating the gelato together we were all too sweeted out to have more sweets.
Clara and I were the servers, Amy was the host, and Melissa was the main chef.
When Mom and Dad got home, they went to their room to "freshen up." Then Amy escorted them to the dining room, where we had moved aside the table and set up a card table. We had set the small table all pretty, and on the other table we put up candles. After they had looked at the menu for a little bit, Clara and I came out and got their orders for drinks and salad. Then we brought out the drinks, and then the salads. After they were almost done with their salads, we took their orders for the main dishes. When those were ready, we brought out the plates and took away their salad plates and forks. Then after they were done with the main dishes, we brought out the cookies.
We decided we would open the presents and wait for the gelato to freeze, because it needed to be in the freezer as long as possible.
We opened the presents and also played Balderdash, and "took a tour of the garden" so mom could discover the day lily we had bought her.

Here are some pictures of the evening.

The menu

The inside of the menu

What I took Dad's order on.

We wore square dance dresses.

The tortelliniWe burnt the bread, but we had some of the untoasted loaf
left so we made that into what we gave Mom and Dad.

The sign I mad for the day lily.

This last Monday Clara's best friend Natalie came over. Clara isn't able to see her often so it was nice for them to be able to get together. We make movies together, and they were wearing some of the costumes. I took a lot of pictures. It was fun.

Scrapbooking and Pictures

I have been making Amy's senior scrapbook, and this morning I realized that I have 10 years left to do, and I have just over two weeks! It's kind of overwhelming. But this morning I did all of 1997, and I've started on 98. I have been scanning in the pictures, so we can have duplicates. There are some nice ones, and some interesting ones I came across. So I'll put them up here.

These are all in 1998. This one is with our cousin Kelly.

Notice how all four of us are on a teeter totter built for two?

And in this one, notice how we're all sort of blowing?

I think this one is hilarious.

And this one is the greatest. Dad is so strong, he can hold up Colorado boulders!

I thought y'all would like these pictures.

We have been pretty busy getting ready for Amy's graduation. We have two senior dinners coming up- one with church and one with ECC. It's scary how Amy being completely done with high school is so soon!

National Teacher Appreciation Week

This week is National Teacher Appreciation Week, so we decided to appreciate Mom today. We made lunch. It was enchiladas, salad, chips and salsa, and apple crisp for dessert. It was fun to do that. We decided that May 7 would always be teacher appreciation day for us.

So here are some pictures of us at lunch.

This afternoon we went shopping. We went to Joann's and got scrapbook paper, and Old Navy and Marshalls for clothes. We also went to the library and got books, and took some apple crisp to Dad at work.

We are almost done with the door/window project. On Sunday we put the primer on, and tonight we'll put on the paint.

Some of our relatives will be able to come out for Amy's graduation, and we're excited about that.

This is a friend doing the texture with Dad.

On Sunday Melissa had a bake sale for church, and she made cookies and cupcakes to sell.

This afternoon Ginger was stalking a squirrel. It was on our fence, and she was taking small steps to go toward it. It was really funny. She never got the squirrel though.

Cinco de Mayo and Muffins

Yesterday was Cinco de Mayo day. There is this "legend," more like a tall tale, about it that I'll share with you.

Traders brought mayonnaise to Mexico one year, and the natives loved it. The demand was so great that the company had a huge ship bring a large supply from Europe. Because the load of mayonnaise was so heavy, during a storm in the Caribbean the ship sank. This happened on May 5, and the Mexicans made the day a holiday of mourning. They called it Cinco de Mayo. Because that sounds like Sink o' de Mayo.

That made me laugh when Clara told it to me. I hope you don't mind that I kind of filled in the details, like the shipping company and traders and such.

I don't really know the real Cinco de Mayo story. We were going to go to a thing about it at the library, but we got there late, and we saw that it was only little kids, so we didn't stay.

Yesterday it was pretty rainy. Today it was rainy and stormy, and the power went out for a minute. I had been making muffins, and they were baking, and I was like "No! "because the oven had turned off. But the power came back on, and the muffins turned out okay. They have the wierdest ingredients. They're called Breakfast in a Muffin muffins, and there is wheat flake cereal, orange juice, powdered milk, bananas, and eggs in them. Really like breakfast. They sound so wierd, but they were good. I am going to give you the recipe.

Breakfast-in-a-Muffin

1 c. wheat flake cereal
1 c. orange juice

1/2 c. nonfat dry milk
1/4 c. vegetable oil

1 egg

2 sm. bananas, mashed

1 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 c. whole wheat flour

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. raisins (optional)

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin pan. Mix cereal, orange juice, and dry milk in a large bowl; let stand about 2 minutes or until soft. Mix in oil, egg, and bananas. Stir in remaining ingredients. Pour into muffin pan. Bake 20 minutes, or until top springs back when touched lightly. Makes 12 muffins.

The recipe is from Mom's 'The Great Southwest Cookbook' that I love. We have so many recipes we use in there.

Both Melissa and I have been working on research papers. Hers is a whole author project, so she also has to do a book review. The author she chose to do her paper on is Nathaniel Hawthorne.

I am doing mine on the Black Death. It was kind of a bad topic to pick, because some of the info I have been looking at is nasty.

Today

Today after we went to church, Clara went to an interactive movie with her Girl Scout troop. It was the Wizard of Oz movie. From what she's told me about it, it sounded pretty fun. Like whenever a character came on the screen, they would say or do certain things. For the good witch Glenda, they held up the wand and said "Oh, what a nice witch!" They had a swap meet afterwards, and Clara made little scarecrows.

Here are some pictures.

Clara and Melissa with the little scarecrows.

Dad did the texture this weekend, with the help of a friend, and here Mom is helping him tape off the ceiling.

A neat picture I took at the railroad crossing.

Amy, Clara, and I went to see National Treasure 2, and we went to Sonic afterwards.

The lilies before the opened.

The lilies after they opened.