Ariel and the Skirt

Last night Ariel and her friend, Amanda, dressed up in my heels, makeup and skirts and paraded around the house.  After Amanda left, Ariel kept fiddling with her skirt and, seriously, every time I saw her the skirt looked different.  So I joked with her that I needed to take a picture of every different way one skirt could be worn.  So here's my bad iphone pictures.  We're in the kitchen because I'm actually in the midst of serving dinner...

There's the traditional method of wearing a skirt.  This is what her skirt looks like, really.

Hey, is that a different skirt?

Oh, look... a different skirt AND a fancier top!  LOL

Nice brown skirt with a stripe of color at the top.

This is Ariel's "Like, OMG, so call me right now!" pose..

Then we got silly and turned the skirt into this and Ariel did like 300 poses, each one sillier than the last.  

So we have determined that Ariel will be that person who has one article of clothing and can wear it 30 different ways... heehee

Mixing music

Trevor has been working on a mix that I requested he give to his DJ instructor for constructive feedback.  He is SUPER nervous about this so has been working nonstop on it.

I think his mix sounds awesome.  If he posts it somewhere, I will share a link here.  He is scared of negative feedback on Youtube or Soundcloud and so he won't post it yet.  This is why he is giving it to his teacher so he can get actual real feedback on it.  Apparently, mom thinking his mix sounds awesome as she dances around his room is not proof that it's good; it's just embarrassing.  lol. 

We are also in the midst of the "Great Bedroom changeover" and Trevor has acquired our master bedroom.  More room for DJ equipment and his own bathroom!  Ray and I hated the master bedroom and have moved downstairs where we can have a larger bathroom.  The girls are each getting their own room.  

Evolution of Rachael

First off, Rachael had a red carpet runway party to go to this past weekend.  So she looked "Rachael fancy", which means she created her own look.  She is shopping in the Junior's section now and was also dying to get that particular scarf.  So she found a dress that was comfortable (the #1 requirement for Rachael to wear something besides jeans) and cute.  

She wore her riding boots (cowboy boots) with is and I think she looked cute!

I painted cupcakes on her nails to go with her business, "Sachael's Frosting and Smiles"

Then school pictures came in yesterday.  I keep each year in the frame so when I add a new picture, I can see the previous year's pictures.  So here is how Rachael has grown (grandparents, etc, I will be sending you a copy of her picture soon).  This one is second grade.  I have K and first somewhere else.

Third grade!

Fourth grade!

And her fifth grade picture!  omg, I think it is gorgeous and this is my most favoritest picture of her ever.  She looks so grownup!  The pose looks different because this is spring pictures, which uses a different background than the traditional fall pictures.  I prefer spring pictures.  

A day with Zen

Maureen and Juan had to go out of town and so we got to watch Zen for the day.  It was a day off school work for Trevor and an all around exhausting, fun day for the both of us.  I swear, Zen never gets tired.  We started the day at Reston Zoo.  

Trevor LOVES the goats.  He said he would give up both dogs if we could have some goats.  heh.

The fennec fox was SO close to us.  omg, I would have a fennec fox!  They are so super cute!

Squee!

Then we came home and just played around.  Trevor and Zen set up a pillow jumping thing, we went to the totlot by our house, we ate grilled cheese for lunch....

We also had to get Trevor new lacrosse shorts.  So we put Zen in some lax gear and decided he should play when he gets older.  He looks good in it!  ;)

Then, as we were walking to the sport's store Zen says "I really could go for a smoothie right now!" and I said "Oh, yea?  Well, we can make some smoothies when we get home.." and Zen replied, "Well, actually, I see a smoothie place right there." True enough and well played, Zen!  We got smoothies at Tropical Smoothie Cafe.  

We ended the day at the pool, but I got no pictures of that.  Zen played in the kiddie pool and Trevor and Rachael swam in the big pool.  Then we came home and I made chicken nuggets for dinner and we chilled until Maureen came home.  We had AWFUL storms, complete with like pingpong ball sized hail.  It was a crazy storm and Maureen had to drive through it.  She arrived safe and sound though to a kid who did not want to go home yet!  

Mother's Day

For Mother's Day this year we decided to go for a picnic with friends at a local state park.  It was a super nice day, gorgeous weather, perfect temperature.  It was a nice afternoon!

Maureen called this the "Butt Shot".  LOL.  We are all looking at snakes sunning themselves in the crevices around the water.  There were TONS of them!

Trevor and Zen going on a hike.

This is one of my favorite pictures ever.  

Contemplating the water.  Little did they know there was a snake hanging from the tree right by Rachael.

Group shot and Juan-selfie.  Not a supergreat picture, but I think it's funny.  

Building a windmill

Trevor and I were doing a unit on climate change and green energy.  We found this cheesy cheap windmill kit at Michaels and so decided to build it.

Putting the windmill together.  Trevor doesn't like following the instructions so we had a couple false starts.

But he got it all together!!

Ok.  I tried to get a video in there of the windmill working, but I can't seem to get it uploaded.  I have to work right now so I will try to get it on later.