Maybe she was born to be a star...

Well, she likes to think that anyway. Diamond loves performing. She could be a simple flower on stage or helping out in the background, but she definitely loves that kind of stuff. I was going through old pictures to print some out and ran across this video of her at 5. It's getting further and further away from these times and I'm glad I have them captured on my computer.

I've trained her well!

While Diamond and I were grocery shopping, she wanted to buy some sliced mozarella cheese to put in her sandwiches for camp. This was actually harder to find than I thought it would be. We ended up finding some deli sliced mozarella that looked good. They were 10 slices for $2.00.

As I'm unloading groceries, I notice there are holes in the cheese. I start freaking out because I do not remember grabbing swiss cheese and Diamond has never had it so I don't even know if she will like it. I guess she hears me in the kitchen mumbling and wondering how this swiss cheese ended up in our basket. She calmly comes to me and says, "Mom, I did that. I wanted us to get a deal because swiss comes with 14 slices instead of 10 for the same price."

All I could do was smile and say good job baby... I guess the holes in the swiss cheese make up for the extra slices.

On our own...

Today marks the first day without my parents. For all the years of my life, they have been there - just a knock away. My dad was offered a job in New Mexico right before spring break. He packed up some of his stuff and got a place there and now since summer is here, mom has joined him. When they got in their car, I wasn't really sad... it was when I saw their vehicle driving away and we were following behind them that it hit me that we were not going to be living in the same town anymore.

But on the positive side, we can talk to them on the webcam whenever we want and they will be back in 2 weeks to make sure we haven't burned their house down. (Not doing so well with that. I just burned a piece of salmon as I was blogging - I think this is what they might call "blackened salmon.")

Last day off in May

In the month of May, I had three short weeks in a row. I was really getting spoiled with those short weeks that I don't know how I'm going to work 5 days a week for the entire month of June.

Today, I took the day off to attend Diamond's award ceremony at school, where she received "Hardest Worker" and then stayed for their family picnic. It was a beautiful day and I did not regret taking the day off at all. We had the picnic at the fort, laid out blankets and chairs, then had a huge water balloon/gun fight.So, with no change of clothes, she spent the rest of the day wet. Sometimes I wonder why there is still school during the last week - I guess because if there wasn't, they would miss out on all this fun!
The rest of the afternoon, I walked around the mall, watched a movie, and then hung out with Diamond after school. I love picking her up at the bus stop. I wish I could do it everyday - But tomorrow it's back to work and back to normal schedule. But today was a great day!

Non-stop Thursday

Today, I felt like we were on the go go go go... We started our day by coming home after midnight after watching Star Trek, which by the way was a really good movie even though I am not a Trekie. After 5 hours of sleep, I head to work for a day filled with fun and exciting (in my most sarcastic tone) training.

Then, Diamond had a dress rehearsal for her piano recital.
Then, Diamond had performance awards for ballet.
Then, Diamond had Dia De Los Ninos with open house at school.

Wow... Diamond is a busy girl. Today I was a proud mommy. My dad, who will not be here for the piano recital, watched during rehearsal and said she did an awesome job. I watched her twinkle her toes away in ballet as they performed all their dances. Then, for the first time ever, I watched my daughter participate in a talent show she chose to sing in. She may not be Mariah Carey, but it was still a proud moment for me. I sat there and watched her sing her heart out... Here's a little video I took of it. (Uhm... ignore the end. The umbrella was knocked over by the wind and it almost toppled a poor little kid.)

Lakehouse getaway

We spent this weekend at my friend Erin's lakehouse. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but I was pretty excited about the trip anyway. I needed a girls getaway due to having a rough week, and it definitely helped.

We had so much fun. We drove down there after I watched Dime run in the Little Olympics. Ate at an Italian restaurant in my friends' home town and spent the evening sitting on the boat dock talking while eating Oreos and milk (or Dr. Pepper for some of us.)

The next day, we played in the water. I went kayaking and canoeing for the very first time! Whew! It was a serious arm workout and for someone who hardly works on their arms, it sure was a lot of using muscles I'm not used to. Then we visited Erin's family vineyard... this was so beautiful.

We just had such a blast! Thanks Erin for inviting us out there. I wish I had a picture of all of us to post up here.

Picking at weeds and dog poop

Yes, that is how I spent my afternoon. I'm not a yard worker. I should live somewhere where I don't have to maintain a yard. I don't have a lot of patience for it and whenever I try to grow something, it dies.

But I still did pull the weeds, bag them, and then picked up the dog's mess. It was a nice day to be outside. The sun wasn't beating down on me. I'm tired now... I think I deserve a nap.