A 3-day weekend is a good thing

I had yesterday off.  It was the first day of Devon's Spring Break and Aubrey's talent show which I wanted to go to, so I figured I would use some of my personal time off from work.  Was worth it, too.  Devon and I went out to breakfast, went to a church rummage sale  (her first and I had to drag her away), Aubrey's talent show,  Wal-Mart  and got to play a little.  I feel like one of those old Army commercials "we do more by 8 am than most people do all day" - remember those?

Aubrey at her school talent show

I was impressed at Aubrey's talent show on Friday.  She actually played the piano - a piece she wrote herself.  Too bad we couldn't see her play, only hear, but it was an upright piano with its back was to us, the audience.    I went to upload the video so you could hear but for some reason it only taped 8 seconds, the time it took her to walk to the piano.  Darn!  She had one of the better performances too - and I' not saying that because I'm biased, which I am, but because the band, for example, while technically good on their instruments  was excruciatingly loud.  And the girls who sang were somewhat painful to listen to.  I did really enjoy the ukelele performance and the break dancing was very enjoyable as well.  Thank heavens it's a small school :)

Aubrey was at a sleepover birthday party last night.  I was concerned she'd have one of her hard to get sleep nights, but it turns out she was actually the first one asleep.  Go figure!  First one up, too, so tonight she was, again, the first one asleep.  Said she didn't feel well, but I think she was just really tired - she was the first one up this morning and had riding this afternoon for a couple of hours.

I really enjoyed last night's services at our synagogue.  It occurred to me that I prefer Friday night services not just because they're shorter than Saturday morning services, but that the melodies feel, to me, more joyous, more upbeat. Maybe it's because we're welcoming the Sabbath, or maybe it's all in my head, but I do really like the service and find it a great start to the week-end and the upcoming week.  And I'm ignoring the fact that I usually go by myself, mainly because I don't think that's why I feel this way..I go to Sunday morning services each week by myself and don't feel the same way.  Anyhow, that was a lovely start to my weekend, and I've been looking forward to this weekend, because I love Purim - it's just so much fun, and when you're surrounded by kids having fun, to me the world lightens.

As pinky-promised, Devon and I baked for the cake walk at tomorrow's carnival - gluten-free brownies. Not that we need things to be gluten-free, but it seems like a lot of people at our synagogue do, so that's what we made.  She loves baking, both girls do, and this was an easy thing to do with her.  She did a good job breaking the eggs and melting the butter.  So cute.  It didn't take long and it made her so happy.  Win-win. Yea!

We have a full house tonight.  In addition to the usual inhabitants (4 people, 3 cats and 1 dog), we have 2 extra girls - one for each of mine.  Isabella is our usual weekend resident, and we have Summer again.  I love having the full house, despite the fact that [1] my girls are not always the best hosts and [2] Ron does not love having the full house.  He likes the kids, although when Isabella is here Devon's behavior is not at its best - maybe a little less listening and definitely more mess everywhere!  To me, I love having them around. Granted the house gets a lot noisier than I would prefer, but to me it beats silence.  And it will add to tomorrow's fun, since we're taking all 4 to the Purim carnival.  The younger girls, the "twins" spent a while trying costumes on tonight.  Summer wanted to, as well, but Aubrey wasn't into it.  We'll see what happens in the morning when it comes time to get dressed and get going.

And it is quiet now, all the girls are asleep, the dog's asleep and the cats are who knows where doing whatever it is cats do when there's no one around.  It feels weird to have the house this silent, even this late. Some nights I hear Devon talking in her sleep - which seems to be a family thing, I do it, her grandmother does it.  See?  a nice, multi-generational habit to keep passing down.  Freaks Aubrey out, though.  So far, so silent.  Wish I was tired so I could get some sleep while the house is quiet - but not to worry, Ron is going to sleep so the silence will end.  Then I'll be able to call it a night.